


Ninjago: Fusion Au

by SalineCoelacanth



Category: Lego Ninjago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-02-08 12:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18622906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalineCoelacanth/pseuds/SalineCoelacanth
Summary: After a new evil rises in Ninjago, the ninja discover a new ability they were unaware of- fusion.After learning the secrets about fusion, the ninja have to figure out what this new villain is trying to accomplish while figuring out this whole fusion thing for themselves





	1. A New Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been working on this fusion au for a while on my tumblr where I've posted small comics of the characters interacting and stuff, so I guess if you don't want spoilers about each fusion don't go to my tumblr (unless you came here from tumblr...)  
> Anyway, I've been developing the story for the au so it isn't just "oh, they can fuse, cool," no, I wanted an actual plot to it. Pretty much all of the comics I've posted are kinda just what-if scenarios that won't actually appear in this fic. Think of them taking place after everything and after they've gotten more used to this fusion thing.  
> Alright enough, rambling, let's get this started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ninja have a day off, but discover a new threat along with a new power along the way

“Log Entry 178. I continue my research on the elemental powers. Though I only started my research recently, I find the topic very interesting. I’ve found many books showing the history of the elemental masters, but I can tell there is still much to learn. If only I had a test subject. That would make my life so much easier. Of course I have my mice, but they don’t have any powers. It’s really such a shame the elemental masters are as difficult to acquire as they are. Tomorrow, I plan to do some investigating to find a certain someone who may have a bit more info and is willing to help me, for a price of course. Nothing in this world comes free, and sometimes there are big prices to pay. But it will all be worth it, for science. Your’s truly, Dr. Corria.”

The scientist stopped recording her message and saved it on her computer. She turned her attention to another monitor that showed blueprints on it. “As soon as I finish this model, I can really start getting to work!” she stated happily. Squeaking noises sounded from the other side of the room. “Quiet down, you guys, I need concentration,” Corria spoke, turning to a cage with three mice in it, “I’m excited too, but there’s no need to get ahead of ourselves.” She turned back to the computer and began typing. “Soon enough, I’ll have the information I need.”

______________________________________________

“Nice shot,” Kai taunted as he sparred with Zane. Zane had launched an arrow at him but missed. “You’ll have to try harder than that if you want to beat me!”

“You lack focus Kai,” Zane stated, “You should pay attention to your enemy.”

Before Kai could respond, Zane shot another arrow. Kai quickly jumped out of the way, but hit a wall of ice that Zane had created behind him. Kai fell to the ground and Zane walked over to him.

“It seems you need to learn your surroundings better,” Zane teased, holding his hand out. Kai smiled and grabbed Zane’s hand, standing up. 

All the ninja were sparring with each other, their normal routine. Kai and Zane looked over at the others. Cole was attempting to hit Jay with his hammer, but the blue ninja was too agile for him. Lloyd and Nya on the other hand seemed to be evenly matched, as neither of them were able to land a hit on the other.

“Would you stand still for one second?” Cole asked, somewhat frustrated.

“Dodging is just as important as hitting,” Jay informed, “How else am I supposed to be useful if I’m constantly getting- ACK!” Cole managed to smack Jay while he was distracted. It wasn’t enough to hurt too much, but it did knock Jay over. 

“Maybe you should focus more on not talking as much,” Cole teased.

Jay stood up, brushing some dust off is gi. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, I talk too much.” he replied.

“I believe that is enough for one day,” Master Wu arrived in the training area. The ninja all turned to him and bowed. “You are all wonderful fighters, but it is important to keep your skills polished. You never know when something might happen.”

“We know, Master,” Kai said, “But things have been pretty quiet around lately. After the incident with the oni, we haven’t had to deal with any bad guys.”

“Don’t let your guard down, Kai,” Lloyd warned, “Just because things are quiet doesn’t mean evil isn’t out there. There is evil, we just haven’t encountered anyone yet.”

“You mean like your father,” Wu stated.

Lloyd turned to his master and quietly nodded. “He left without a word. There’s no telling where he is or what he’s planning.”

Wu nodded to show he understood. “That is what I came to talk to you all about.”

“About Garmadon?” Cole asked, “Why?”

“Much like Lloyd, I too have been thinking about my brother’s whereabouts. With his heart corrupted by evil once more, I fear he might be up to no good once again. However, we have no way of knowing for sure.”

“So, you want us to go look for him?” Jay questioned.

Wu shook his head. “You are needed here in case Ninjago is in danger. I will go and look for my brother. I will be gone for a few days and I just wanted to let you know before I left.”

The ninja all looked at each other and then back at their Master. “Don’t worry, Master,” Nya spoke, “We know how to handle things.”

“I am aware of that,” Wu assured, “I will be leaving tomorrow morning. I don’t know when exactly I’ll be back, but I know the six of you will protect this world like you have done time and time again.”

“Well, we all wish you a safe trip,” Zane said, the others nodding in agreement. 

“There is still time. Like I said, I’m not leaving until tomorrow,” Wu reminded, “Now come, my students. It is almost time for dinner.”

______________________________________________

That night, Cole was sitting outside at the steps of the monastery. He was looking at the sky when he heard footsteps approaching.

“What are you doing out so late?” Cole turned to see Jay walking up to him.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just not that tired.” Cole responded. Jay sat down next to the black ninja.

“You worried about Master Wu leaving?” he asked.

Cole shrugged. “A little bit. After we lost him for such a long time, I guess I’m just a little paranoid, you know?”

“Oh, I totally get it. I always get a little anxious when we split up after that whole sky pirate thing.”

“Sky pirates?”

“Oh, nevermind.” Jay leaned back, looking up at the stars. “I’m sure Master Wu will be fine. He’s strong, just like you.” He nudged Cole on the arm.

Cole gave out a little chuckle. “Yeah, that’s me. The strong one.”

“I mean you are,” Jay continued, “You literally have super strength! Sometimes I wish I could be strong like you,” he admitted.

“You’re already strong, Jay. In your own special way,” Cole said awkwardly.

Jay turned to him. “You are terrible at this,” he teased.

“Hey, I’m the strong one, not the emotional support one,” Cole retorted. 

Jay let out a small laugh and stood up. “Welp, we’d better get some sleep,” he said, “You never know if Wu’s gonna make us do extra early training before he leaves.”

“You have a point,” Cole said, standing up as well. Jay began walking back to the monastery. Cole took one final look at the sky before following the other ninja. 

The ninja all woke up the next day to find that Master Wu had already left. He had left a note to assure the ninja that he did indeed leave on his trip. 

“Well, at least we know he wasn’t kidnapped,” Kai joked. 

“He wasn’t kidding when he said morning,” Cole added. 

“Well, since Master Wu isn’t here, I say we take a break from training,” Kai continued.

“But, what if Ninjago needs us?” Zane asked.

“That’s why we’re only taking a break for one day,” Kai reassured, putting is arm on the nindroid.

“Well, if we’re taking a break, then I’m going to work on some of the vehicles,” Nya stated, “I haven’t been able to work on them in a while and I wanna make sure they’re working properly.”

“Well, if you guys are taking a break, then I’m gonna keep training,” Lloyd decided, “If my father is still out there plotting something, we have to be ready.”

“C’mon, Lloyd, you need to take time to relax too,” Jay said.

“Yeah, Jay’s right,” Kai agreed, “We’ll be ready if Garmadon comes back. Everyone needs a break every once in a while.”

Lloyd looked down and closed his eyes, “I know, it’s just… I don’t feel safe, especially with Master Wu gone looking for my father.” He looked back at the others. “You guys can go out and have fun, Nya and I will stay back here.”

“You sure?” Cole asked.

Lloyd nodded. “I’ll be fine, I just think I still need the extra practice.”

“Alright,” Cole responded reluctantly. The four of them looked at each other. “So, you guys wanna head out?”

“Yes! I’ve been going stir crazy for a long time now,” Jay complained. 

“It has been a while since we’ve been able to enjoy some free time,” Zane added.

“Alright guys, let’s go!” Kai responded. 

The four of them all took Cole’s earth driller into Ninjago City after Nya looked it over quickly. “So, what do you guys wanna do? Go to the movies?” Jay asked.

“Uh, Jay, we don’t have money,” Kai reminded.

“Maybe they’ll give us a ninja discount?” Jay suggested.

“Actually, there are no showings at this time,” Zane informed.

“Alright, how about Chen’s Noodle House?” Jay asked.

“Jay, we have no money,” Cole reminded again.

“Yeah, but we know Skylor so maybe she can-”

“Cole, stopped the car,” Zane interrupted. Cole quickly slammed on the brake. 

“What? Did I hit something?” Cole questioned, worry in his voice.

Zane put his hand next to his head. “I’m picking up a distress signal from the police,” he explained, “Coming from central Ninjago City.”

“Alright, let’s head there!” Kai urged.

“Aw man, I was looking forward to our day off,” Jay complained.

“Hey, at least it isn’t training,” Cole said. He quickly drove the earth driller to where the signal was coming from. 

They arrived at the area and saw a mysterious figure. The ground around them was torn up and there were some police cars that were smoking. The four ninja jumped out of the earth driller. 

“You must be new here, cause everyone knows if you mess with Ninjago, you mess with us!” Kai argued. The mysterious figure turned their head to the ninja and slowly began walking over.

“Alright, looks like he wants a fight then,” Jay said. The ninja all pulled out their weapons.

“Ninja-go!” They all yelled as they activated their spinjitzu. They each headed for the enemy, but they knocked them all back one by one.

“Looks like out spinjitzu won’t be very effective,” Zane pointed out.

“Ya think?” Kai retorted. He got back up and pointed his sword at the mystery person. “Hi-yah!” He yelled as he ran up and smacked them with his sword. It made a metallic CLUNK sound, revealing the mysterious person to be a nindroid. The attack didn't do a lot of damage. “So, you’re a nindroid?” Kai asked. They simply ignored Kai’s question and instead kicked him away. 

“Kai!” Zane yelled. He pulled out an arrow and swiftly shot it at the other nindroid. They quickly turned to the arrow and shot it with an energy blast from their arm, destroying it before it even got close. Cole quickly ran up from behind and attempted to hit them with his hammer. The nindroid dodged and punched Cole. Cole regained his footing and retaliated and started swinging his hammer again, but the nindroid was too fast. The nindroid shot a small blast at Cole, sending him flying at one of the police cars. 

“Looks like it’s my turn,” Jay said, swinging his nunchucks around. He spun them in a circle and launched a bolt of electricity at the nindroid. They were taken aback at first, but quickly shook it off. “Welp, I tried,” Jay said, defeated. The nindroid ran up and kick the blue ninja, knocking him off his feet. They were about to hit him again, but were interrupted by Kai and Cole who both ran up behind them with their weapons. The nindroid used their arms to guard, but struggled to hold off the both of them. Eventually, they managed to push the two back. They started walking towards them, but were stopped by Zane who froze their leg to the ground. They pointed their arm at the ice and shot an energy blast, shattering it instantly. 

“What the heck!?” Kai yelled, lying on the ground, “Why is this guy so strong? We’ve fought plenty of nindroids before, why is he so different.”

Cole stood up, helping Kai up as well. “We can’t give up guys. It’s one against four, we can beat him eventually.”

“Cole is right,” Zane agreed, “Eventually, we will beat him.”

Kai put his sword away and created fire in his hands. He launched the fireballs at the nindroid. The nindroid sent an energy blast at Kai in retaliation, sending him flying at a wall. Cole put his hammer away and punched his fists together, activating his lava arms. He ran up and tried to punch the nindroid, but as before, they easily dodged every blow. The nindroid grabbed Cole’s arm and threw him to the side. 

“Cole! Are you ok!?” Jay called.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Cole said, getting up, trying not to flinch at the pain.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” Jay warned, turning back to the nindroid. The nindroid turned back to Jay and pointed their arm at him. They began charging a large energy ball at the end of their arm. Jay blinked in shock at the giant blast, ready and aimed right for him. Before he could react, the nindroid launched the ball towards the ninja. The only thing Jay could think to do was surround himself with electricity to try and protect himself from the blast.

“Jay!” Cole yelled, quickly scrabbling up. He ran towards him to try and save him from the blast.

“Cole, what are you doing!?” Kai yelled after him. He started to move after him, but Zane quickly grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from moving. 

Cole jumped at Jay, his earth powers surrounding him to protect himself as the blast hit the both of them. The blast hit a wall, causing rubble to pile up and dust to fill the air around. The nindroid put their arm down. A small beeping sound played and the nindroid clicked a button on the side of it’s head, nodded, and began walking away.

“Jay! Cole!” Kai yelled, staring at the pile of rubble left behind with shock in his eyes.

“They…” Zane said quietly, unable to process what had happened. 

Kai looked over at the titanium ninja. “They can’t be… How are we going to tell the others?”

“I-I don’t- wait, look!” Zane pointed at the rubble pile. Kai quickly turned his head back and saw movement underneath the destruction.

The rocks bursted apart, creating a giant cloud of dust. Kai and Zane were unable to see within the cloud, but they saw a flail flying out of the cloud at the nindroid. The nindroid quickly turned back, but got wrapped up in the flail before they could do anything. The head of the flail smacked the nindroid in the face, causing a small amount of sparks to fly off. The cloud of dust began to disperse, revealing the person holding the flail. He had dark brown hair and olive green eyes. He wore a navy-blue gi with black and grey accents. He yanked on the handle of his flail, pulling the nindroid towards him at high speeds.

“Who is that!?” Kai asked, his voice full of shock and confusion.

“I-I don’t know, I can’t get a clear scan of him,” Zane replied.

“Well whoever he is, he’s strong!”

The nindroid was pulled up close to the mysterious person. “You’re gonna have more than just a scratch when I’m through with you!” the mysterious person taunted. He punched the nindroid in the stomach, causing them to stumble back. They tried to break free from the flail’s rope, but was unable to. The mysterious person kicked the nindroid down to the ground, causing them to slide away. The mystery person stomped a foot on the ground and it began to shake. The nindroid looked up at the mystery person. He gave a quick smirk before a piece of the earth launched up from the ground, sending the nindroid flying away into the sky. “That takes care of that,” the mystery person said, wiping his hands together. He turned to Kai and Zane who were both watching in shock. “Hey guys,” he called over.

Kai and Zane both looked at each other then walked over to the mysterious person.

“Kai, Zane, are you guys ok?” he asked. concern in his voice.

“How do you know our names?” Kai asked skeptically.

“What do you mean, it’s me-” the mystery person paused. He looked at his hands in confusion, and then down at his feet. “I’m-” before he could say anything, he turned into a ball of light. He split into two smaller balls forming humanoid figures that fell to the ground. Cole and Jay both lay on the ground where the light fell apart.

“Ow, my head,” Jay said, rubbing his hand on his head.

“What was that?” Cole asked. He looked up at Kai and Zane who were both staring at them in complete disbelief.

“What. The actual fuck. Just happened?” Kai asked. He turned to Zane, looking for an answer.

“Don’t look at me, I’m just as confused as you are!” Zane responded.

“Well, whatever that was, we totally kicked that guy’s butt!” Jay cheered, slowly standing up. He grabbed Cole’s arm, helping him up as well. 

“That was… weird,” Cole commented.

“I think we need to ask Master Wu about this when he gets back,” Kai stated. 

The four of them headed back to the monastery in the earth driller, all of them still very confused on what happened.

______________________________________________

Corria sat in her lab. A door opened and she looked up to see a nindroid carrying another nindroid that was busted up. “Aw, my scouter bot. I see you found them,” she said. The nindroid set the other on a table and Corria walked up to it. She pushed a button on its head and opened it up. She grabbed a flash drive from within and plugged it into her computer. She opened the file and watched a video that was recorded. “Oh, this is beautiful. This will be wonderful for my research.”


	2. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fight with the mysterious nindroid, Cole and Jay start to discover more of themselves

“We heard you had trouble in the city,” Nya had called Kai on his communication device as they started heading back to the monastery. “We’ll be heading to you guys in the bounty.”

“You don’t have to do that, sis,” Kai responded.

“If there’s a new villain we have to deal with, it’s best to stay in the bounty,” Nya explained, “That way we can be closer to Ninjago City when things eventually fall apart again.”

“We’re almost at the harbor,” Cole called from the driver’s seat.

“Got it, we’ll be there soon,” Nya replied. Kai’s communication device made a click sound, indicating that Nya had hung up.

“Who knows guys, maybe it was just the one nindroid,” Jay said with a nervous laugh.

“That is very unlikely,” Zane stated, “Whenever a villain shows up, it turns into something big.” 

They arrived at Ninjago harbor where the bounty was waiting. Nya lowered the ladder and climbed down to greet the ninja.

“You guys look rough,” she observed, “Maybe we should have come to help.”

“We handled it,” Kai assured.

“Actually, Cole and I handled it,” Jay retorted, “It was really weird, we-”

“You guys managed to beat him so fast,” Kai interrupted quickly, “Yeah, that was really weird.”

“Well, we’re gonna have to get the earth driller back to the monastery,” Nya pointed out, “I can drive it down there. You guys look like you need the rest.”

“Thanks, Nya,” Kai said, “Is Lloyd on the bounty too?”

Nya nodded, “I think he was in the control room if you’re looking for him.” Nya jumped into the earth driller while the others climbed onto the bounty. 

“Kai, why didn't you tell her about what happened?” Jay asked in a whisper.

“Because, Jay, we have no idea what that was,” Kai explained, “Until Master Wu gets back, we shouldn’t say anything about this to Lloyd or Nya.”

“Kai has a point,” Zane agreed, “Until we get more information, it would probably be best for them not to know.”

“Ok,” Jay’s tone was a bit reluctant.

“Hey, it’ll be ok,” Cole reassured, “Master Wu will come back and we’ll get all of this sorted out.”

“Get what sorted out?” Lloyd walked up to the main deck to greet the others.

“Oh, uh… Jay’s cold!” Cole lied.

“I don’t have a cold,” Jay responded. Cole gave him a hard nudge on the arm.

“Yeah, of course you do,” Cole stated with a more stern voice.

“Oh, yeah,” Jay realized. He gave a fake cough and looked over at Lloyd. “I must have caught it while we were out.”

Zane did a quick face palm and looked up again. “Why don’t you two go get some rest?” he advised, “After that fight, you two must be really tired.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Jay said, “C’mon, Cole.” They both walked off to the cabin. Lloyd looked at them in confusion as they walked away, and turned back to Kai and Zane.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

“Yep, everything’s all good, just a little hurt from that fight,” Kai explained, “Now, we’d better get this bounty headed to the monastery to pick up Nya.” Kai walked to the control room with Zane following behind. 

“Ok, I’m just not gonna question it,” Lloyd said to himself. He walked to the side of the ship and watched as they took to the air, heading for the monastery.

Cole and Jay were in the cabin, Cole sitting on the floor while Jay paced around.

“That was so cool!” Jay rambled, “We were like, one person. We DESTROYED that guy!”

“Calm down, Jay, we don’t need to make a big deal about this,” Cole responded.

“Oh c’mon, you can’t tell me you didn't think it was cool,” Jay retaliated.

“Ok, yeah, that was pretty cool,” Cole admitted, “But don’t forget what Kai and Zane said, until Master Wu gets back,”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t tell Lloyd or Nya,” Jay retorted, “I’m still just trying to calm down from the whole thing.” He sat down next to the black ninja and rested his head on his shoulder. “This whole time, I wished I was more like you, and, in a way, I got to be.”

Cole stared at the blue ninja. He noticed his face looked a little upset. “Hey, don’t worry about it, Jay,” he put his arm around Jay, wanting to make him feel better.

Jay looked up at Cole and gave a soft smile. “You’re still not very good at this,” he joked.

“Hey, I’m trying my best,” Cole defended. He laughed a little bit and Jay began to join him. They stopped and looked at each other. Jay smiled and hugged Cole. Cole paused for a bit, initially shocked by Jay’s actions, but then wrapped his arms around the smaller ninja. They began glowing a bright light until everything went black.

They opened their eyes slowly, taking in their surroundings, until eventually looking down at their hands. “What!? We fused together again!?” The dark blue ninja scrambled onto his feet and looked at himself again. “Why did it happen this time? All we did was hug!” he tried to reason, “Ok, calm down, we just need to unfuse.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes again, realizing he was still himself. “I uhh… I don’t really want to unfuse…” he said quietly. “It’s fine, I don’t need to unfuse right away. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

“Ugh! When is Master Wu gonna get back!” Kai complained.

“He hasn’t been gone for that long,” Zane reminded as he steered the ship, “Have a little more patience, Kai.”

“I can’t Zane! There’s probably some ancient ability he knows about and didn't tell us about that could cause huge destruction or something and we need to know about it!” Kai rambled.

“You seem to have a pretty clear idea in your head,” Zane replied.

“Because Master Wu pulls this stuff all the time, and we really need him to get back,”

“What do you need Master Wu for?” Lloyd asked, walking up on the two.

“Uhh, nothing!” Kai replied, slightly panicked by the green ninja’s sudden arrival, “We just really miss him, right Zane?”

“Oh, yes, we severely miss him,” Zane agreed nervously.

“Huh, I figured Cole or Jay would be more worried about him,” Lloyd responded, “But, you guys know, I’m a master too, so if you need anything,”  
“Yep, we’ll keep that in mind,” Kai cut him off, giving Lloyd a thumbs up.

“Alright then,” Lloyd replied, confusion in his voice. He quietly walked away from them and headed for the main deck.

Kai gave out a sigh of relief. “We really need Master Wu here,” he mumbled.

“Agreed.” Zane said. They both looked forward as they were nearing the monastery. Suddenly, they heard a loud CRASH noise.

“What was that!?” Kai asked, panicked.

“I don’t know,” Zane replied. 

“Hold on, I’ll go check.” Kai walked away and headed below deck towards the cabins. 

He arrived at the main cabin and knocked on the door. “Cole? Jay? You guys good in there?” He opened the door and saw the navy blue ninja standing in the middle of the room holding his flail with a broken table next to him.

“Hi, Kai,” he greeted awkwardly.

“What are you doing?” Kai asked with a stern voice.

“Ok, so I may have fused on accident,” he explained, “and I was gonna unfuse, but then I didn’t.”

Kai gave an annoyed look to the fusion. “Alright, listen guys,”

“Ridge,” the fusion interrupted.

“Huh?”

“You can call me Ridge. I think it’s a cool name.”

Kai blinked. “Alright, Ridge, do you think you could unfuse?” 

“Oh, c’mon, Kai,” Ridge pleaded, “It’s not like I’m hurting anyone.”

“You broke the table.”

“I said anyONE Kai, not anything.” Ridge retorted, “Besides, how do we know this is a bad thing?”

“That’s just the thing, we DON’T know,” Kai claimed, “We have no idea what this even is or how this happened. You two should really unfuse.”

“Please Kai?” Ridge asked, giving Kai a sad look.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,”

“Kai, I swear, as soon as Master Wu gets back, I’ll unfuse.” Ridge bargained.

“But, we don’t know when Master Wu will come back,” Kai reminded.

“He shouldn’t be gone that long, hopefully…” Ridge said, “It’s just… I was just starting to get to know myself. I have this cool flail I can summon from nowhere, I was able to pick up this entire table without struggling, I broke the table… Ok, maybe we ignore the breaking the table part. Anyway, I feel like this could be a good thing!”

“Well, as long as you stay in here and Lloyd doesn’t see you… I guess it should be fine,” Kai replied reluctantly.

“Oh, thank you Kai!” Ridge hugged the red ninja, squeezing him tight,

“Uh, ok, Ridge, I can’t breathe!” Kai struggled.

“Oh, sorry,” Ridge apologized, releasing Kai, “So, you wanna play some video games?”

“Uh… sure?” Kai agreed.

Zane continued to steer the ship until they finally arrived at the monastery. He lowered the anchor.  _ What’s taking Kai so long?  _ Zane thought to himself,  _ Perhaps I should go check on him…  _ “Lloyd, I will be right back, you wait for Nya.” Lloyd nodded as Zane walked away to the cabin. He opened the door to the cabin and saw Kai and Ridge sitting, playing a video game.

“Hey, Zane, wanna join?” Kai asked.

“Somehow, I am not surprised,” Zane sighed, “Um, what happened to the table?” he asked, pointing at the broken table left in the middle of the room.

“My bad,” Ridge replied.

“Ok, why did you break the table?” Zane questioned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ridge assured.

“I’m going to worry about it,” Zane argued, “Ok, that’s not the point. We just arrived at the monastery, so do you think you two could unfuse?”

“Kai said I could be fused until Master Wu got back,” Ridge replied.

Zane gave an angry look to Kai who just shrugged in response.

“Hey, guys, Master Wu is back!” Nya called from the upper deck.

Panicked, Ridge quickly split apart, throwing Cole and Jay to the ground. 

“Well, that didn't last long,” Cole commented.

“Alright guys, let’s go,” Kai said, standing up. They all walked upstairs where the others were waiting.

“Master, did you find my father?” Lloyd asked, concerned.

Wu shook his head. “My search was cut short when I heard there was trouble in Ninjago City.”

“We handled it, Master,” Cole assured, “It was just one nindroid.”

“Really? I heard reports of multiple nindroids scouting through the city,” Wu informed.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure we only fought the one,” Jay thought.

“Looks like we’ve got a bigger problem to deal with then,” Zane figured.

Master Wu nodded. “We’re going to have to find out more information,” he turned to Nya. “Nya, can you head back to Ninjago City?”

“I sure can,” Nya responded. She walked to the steering wheel and pushed the button to raise the anchor. Lloyd walked over to look at the map. Master Wu was about to follow him until Kai grabbed his shoulder.

“Master, can we speak to you in private?” Kai whispered.

“What seems to be troubling you?” Wu asked.

“Not here, we must go somewhere else to speak,” Zane urged.

“Alright then,” Wu said. They all walked to the main deck where no one was. Wu turned to his students. “Ok, what do you need to ask me about?”

The four ninja looked at each other and then back at their master. Kai gave out a sigh before speaking. “In Ninjago City, when we fought that nindroid,” he started. He paused and looked over and Cole and Jay. “Cole and Jay… fused together. Do you know anything about this?”

Wu blinked in shock. He stared down for a moment before looking back up at his students. “There’s something I haven’t told you…”

______________________________________________

Corria wandered the outskirts of Ninjago City, holding a map. “He should be around here somewhere,” she said, looking at her map. She looked up and saw a large cave. “Ahh, here it is.” She walked in and pulled out a flashlight. She turned in on and looked around. She felt as if someone was behind her. She turned around and shined her flashlight at a tall figure who slowly appeared in the light.

“What are you doing here?” a sophisticated voice spoke.

“Pythor P. Chumsworth. I’ve been looking for you,” Corria responded with a smile on her face.


	3. The Forgotten Ability

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master Wu explains the story behind fusion. Along the way, Corria recruits some familiar allies to her cause

“Alright, Master,” Kai said, “What is it this time?”

“This time?” Wu questioned.

“Master, you pull this all the time,” Jay pointed out, “The other elemental masters, Morro, the time twins,”

“Ok, ok, I get it,” Master Wu interrupted. He gave a sigh. “There’s a good reason I haven’t told you about this,” He looked at his students. “Fusion is very dangerous.”

“How so?” Cole asked.

“Well, inherently, fusion is not dangerous, but it has the potential to be,” Wu explained. The four ninja looked at each other and then back at their master. “Long ago, during the Serpentine Wars, the elemental masters would use fusion in battle to gain an advantage. It was quite useful for defeating the Serpentine. However, some fusions were… unstable. Some personalities did not combine well, causing some fusions to turn on others, making it difficult to unfuse, because they didn't want to unfuse.” Cole and Jay looked at each other with slight concern on their faces. They turned back to Master Wu.

“But, Master, when we fused, it didn’t seem unstable,” Cole spoke.

Wu nodded. “Some fusions were very stable and did no harm. This could very well be the case with your fusion. However, fusion can be very dangerous and I do not want to risk anything.”

“So, you won’t let us fuse?” Jay asked, disappointment in his voice.

Master Wu looked at the two ninja. “I suppose, if your fusion is stable, then you two can fuse when needed.”

“What about us, Master?” Kai asked.

Master Wu looked over and Kai and Zane. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Kai, but it’s too risky.”

“But, we’ve known each other for so long,” Kai argued, “How could we not have stable fusions?”

“Relationships are not enough,” Master Wu explained, “Clashing personalities can lead to destruction.”

Kai sighed and Zane put his hand on his shoulder. “We understand, Master,” Zane assured.

Master Wu turned back to Cole and Jay. “You two should probably know, there are three ways fusion can occur,” he explained, “The easiest way is by using your powers together in sync. If that doesn’t work, you can also fuse by dancing together. And finally, the most difficult way is when you have an emotional bond together, that can cause a fusion.”

Cole nodded and looked at Jay.

Jay looked back at Nya and Lloyd. “What about Lloyd and Nya?” he asked, “Shouldn’t they know?”

“It would probably be best for them if they didn’t know,” Master Wu answered, “The less people who know about this, the better.”

“But what is Jay and I fuse and they see us?” Cole asked, “Wouldn’t we have to explain?”

“That is why you will only fuse if necessary,” Wu ordered, “If you are in a tough battle and fusion is needed, then you have permission to fuse.”

“But, won’t Nya and Lloyd go on missions with us?” Kai questioned.

Wu nodded his head. “If you have the entire team, you most likely will not need fusion.”

“So, technically, we CAN fuse, but it’s very unlikely?” Jay asked. Wu gave a nod to the blue ninja. “So then, what’s even the point?”

“The point is, I am keeping you all safe,” Wu explained, “Fusion was a lost tactic for a reason. I will allow it in dire situations, but that’s it,” he continued. “Now, how’s your training coming along?”

All the ninja gave frustrated sighs. “We’ll go get our weapons,” Kai replied, annoyed.

______________________________________________

Pythor stared at the scientist who was looking up at him in awe. “What could you possibly need me for?” he asked, skeptically. Corria continued staring at the serpentine, a smile on her face. “Um, excuse me, I asked you a question,” Pythor said, annoyed.

“Oh, my bad. It’s just that I’ve never actually seen a serpentine in person before,” Corria explained. “You’re scales are simply fascinating,” Corria grabbed Pythor’s tail before he quickly pulled it away. “Anacondrai have purple scales naturally, but your coloration seems to have been affected permanently by The Great Devourer,”

“Can we please get back to my question?” Pythor hissed.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Corria said, “I’ve been doing research on the elemental masters. I want to find out more about their powers and abilities, and perhaps find a way to harness them for myself. You see, in my research, I discovered something very interesting. There have been reports of mysterious elemental masters with TWO elements!” Corria pulled out a book from her bag and opened up to a page in the middle, showing it to Pythor. “I was baffled by them, initially thinking them just to be a myth, but the data my nindroid has collected changes all of this. I believe the elemental masters have an ability to fuse together to form a more powerful being with the ability to use two elements and also create fusion weapons out of nowhere!"

Pythor looked at the book and then back at Corria. “So, what do you need me for?”

“Oh, it’s quite simple. I’ve been reading about you, I’ve studied about you at the museum at the hall of villainy. You’ve faced against the ninja countless times. You’ve even worked with them for a short while.”

“Oh, please don’t remind me.”

“I need someone like you who knows the ninja. Who knows how they work. They’re the easiest elemental masters to come across, and so far, they seem to be the only ones to discover this mysterious ability. With your experience and my knowledge of science, my research will be complete.”

“What’s in all this for me?” Pythor asked.

“That is also quiet simple,” Corria explained, “You help me defeat the ninja, and that’s just it. You’ll be able to defeat the ninja once and for all.”

“That is quite the offer,” Pythor pondered, “But how can you be so sure we’ll be able to defeat them?”

“I have all kinds of technology at your disposal,” Corria said, “I’ve worked on a new model of nindroid, and the first model was already very advanced for the ninja. They really struggled with them, and after I complete my newest project, they’ll be much harder to take out,” Corria looked up at Pythor with a smile. “So, what do you say, Pythor?”

Pythor looked down at the scientist, a devious smile forming on his face. “I say we have a deal.”

______________________________________________

“So, what was it you were talking to Master Wu about yesterday?” Nya asked. They were at the dinner table waiting for food. It had been a whole day since Wu explained the story behind fusion. Despite his orders, Cole and Jay would sneak off to fuse together while Kai and Zane covered for them.

“What? We weren’t asking Master Wu about anything,” Kai lied.

“You’re hiding something,” Nya responded.

“Oh, we were just… asking him about his trip,” Kai replied, “You know asking him how it went,”

“I thought he already told us how it went,” Nya questioned.

“Well, we just wanted clarification,” Kai explained, “You know Master Wu, he’s always cryptic about everything.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Nya said, “Hey, have you guys seen Cole and Jay? They’re gonna miss dinner.”

Kai gave out a sigh. “I’m sure they’re still resting in the cabin,” he replied, slight annoyance in his voice.

Zane walking in, carrying plates of food that he placed on the table. “I assume Cole and Jay won’t be joining us?” Zane asked.

“Guess not,” Lloyd said, “With Jay’s cold, he should probably be getting as much rest as he can.”

“Yeah, Jay’s cold,” Kai agreed with a slight edge to his tone. He looked at Zane who gave a sigh in response before sitting next to the red ninja. 

“Do you think maybe I should go check on them?” Lloyd asked.

“No!” Kai and Zane replied quickly. Nya and Lloyd looked at them with confused looks. “I mean, what if Jay’s sleeping?” Kai asked.

“Then why would Cole still be there?” Nya questioned.

“Maybe he’s also sleeping?” Kai suggested.

“Cole has probably already caught a cold from Jay,” Zane added, “They both need rest,”

“I should go give them some food,” Lloyd offered, starting to stand up.

“NO!” Kai and Zane panicked. 

“I-I mean, I’ll go take them some food,” Kai said, “We can’t risk the green ninja getting sick,”

“Kai, it’s just a common cold,” Lloyd replied, “I’ll be fine.”

“Nope, I better take care of it,” Kai responded. Before Lloyd could argue again, Kai grabbed a plate of food and walked off.

“What’s gotten into him?” Nya asked as her brother walked away.

Zane just shrugged and started eating his food.

Kai entered the cabin where Ridge was laying on the ground laughing to himself. “Lloyd wanted me to bring you some food,” Kai said, slight annoyance in his tone.

Ridge sat up. “Oh crap! I completely forgot about dinner,” he said, “Thanks for covering for me, Kai.”

“It’s no problem,” Kai said, setting the plate down. “You just have to be careful with this whole fusion thing.”

“I know, I know,” Ridge responded, “But, I don’t know how often I’ll get to do this. I feel like there’s so much I’m still learning about myself, and it’s really exciting!” Ridge grabbed the plate and began eating.

“Well, you should probably know that Nya and Lloyd think Cole has a cold now, so keep that in mind,” Kai explained.

“Will do,” Ridge replied as Kai left the room.

Kai gave out a sigh. “It’s not fair. They get to use this cool ability when we don’t.”

“I get what you mean” Zane replied, standing behind Kai.

“WHAHH! Zane!? What are you doing here!?” Kai jumped at the nindroid’s sudden appearance.

“My apologies. Lloyd was worried and wanted me to check on you,” Zane explained.

“Well, I’m fine,” Kai responded.

“I can tell you’re upset, Kai,” Zane said, “I understand you wish to fuse, but we cannot forget what Master Wu said. Fusions can become very dangerous.”

“I know, I’m just…” Kai paused.

“Jealous?”

“Yeah, I’m jealous.” Kai pouted.

“Jealousy can lead to bad things, Kai,” Zane warned, “You don’t need to fuse with anyone, you’re already great the way you are.”

Kai let out a small laugh and looked at the nindroid. “Thanks, Zane,” he said. Zane smiled and gave a small nod. Kai turned away, but looked back at Zane. “Wanna fuse?”

Zane quickly opened his eyes and started blushing slightly. “K-Kai!” he stuttered angrily.

“We don’t have to tell anyone,” Kai reasoned, “Just look at Ridge, no one knows about him and he’s in there enjoying himself. C’mon, I know you want to fuse too.”

Zane gave out a sigh. “It’s true, I am very intrigued by this whole fusion thing. But Master Wu told us…”

“Zane, trust me, it’ll be ok.” Kai put his hand on the nindroid’s cheek. “If you don’t want to, it’s fine. I think it could be fun. Besides, I trust you. That’s why I want to fuse with  _ you _ .”

Zane smiled at the red ninja and put his hand over his. “Ok, let’s do it.”

Kai and Zane waited until the others went to sleep. They snuck to the main deck, careful not to wake anyone up. They stood together under the moonlight that shined onto the deck.

“Master Wu said we could fuse by combining our powers, dancing, or through a strong emotional bond,” Zane remembered.

“Using our powers would definitely wake people up, so,” Kai held out his hand, “Shall we dance?”

“We shall,” Zane smiled, taking the red ninja’s hand.

The two began dancing under the moonlight, slowly stepping back and forth, careful not to step on each other. They looked into each other’s eyes and laughed. They spun around, dancing slightly faster.

“We probably look like a couple of idiots right now,” Kai joked.

“It doesn’t take much for you to look like an idiot,” Zane teased.

“You take that back!” Kai laughed.

“I can’t take back what’s already true,”

They continued dancing with each other. Kai grabbed onto Zane’s back tighter before dipping him down. The two looked at each other, both of them blushing. They began glowing bright as they began to fuse together. 

“We shouldn’t be doing this!” Kai panicked, splitting the two of them apart. Zane fell the the ground as Kai lost his grip. “What was I thinking? I’m sorry, Zane, I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

“No, no, it’s ok,” Zane said, slowly standing up. He sighed. “But you’re right. We shouldn’t be doing this. Master Wu would be very mad with us.”

“It’s just… Cole and Jay seem so happy together when they fuse. Like even though they shouldn’t be doing it, being Ridge makes them happy. I just wanted to know what it was like.”

Zane put a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “I wish to know how it feels as well,” he explained, “But with our differing personalities… who knows what would happen.” Zane looked to the ground, sadness in his eyes. Kai stared at him. He gave the nindroid a hug.

“It’s scary to think about it…” Kai replied. “I… I didn’t really think about that before. What would we even be like if we fused?”

“That must be what Master Wu is afraid of,” Zane realized, holding the red ninja in his arms. “I think I understand now.”

“Yeah, me too.” Kai released Zane from the hug. They looked at each other until Kai looked up at the control room and sighed. “We should… probably go back and sleep, shouldn’t we.”

“Yes, we probably should.”

______________________________________________

Corria had arrived at her lab, with Pythor following. She began working on a new nindroid model that was laying on a metal table.

“What is this project of yours?” Pythor asked.

“They were really hard to get my hands on, but I managed to get some vital parts,” Corria explained ambiguously.

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“He should be fully operational soon. I just need to upload the memory drive I managed to recover,” Corria rolled her chair over to her computer and began downloading a file onto a small disk. 

Pythor looked around the lab and noticed a strange book sitting on a table. “What is that?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Corria assured, not taking her eyes off the computer screen, “That will come in handy later.” She finished uploading the data to the disk and pulled it out of the computer. She rolled back over to the nindroid and inserted the disk into a slot on its head. She got up and slowly stepped back as the nindroid slowly powered on and sat up. A big smile appeared on her face.

“Where am I?” a deep voice spoke.

“Hello,” Corria greeted, “Welcome back to Ninjago, General Cryptor!”

“Cryptor?” Pythor questioned, shocked.

Corria turned back to Pythor. “I know he may look a little different, but it’s him alright! You two used to work together, didn't you?”

Cryptor and Pythor looked at each other, and then back at Corria. “That was a long time ago,” Pythor stated.

“Glad you made it out fine,” Cryptor retorted angrily.

“I was shrunk down to the size of a worm for months!” Pythor argued.

“I was frozen to death. You at least survived,” Cryptor objected.

“Alright you two, stop your fighting,” Corria ordered in a surprisingly calm voice. “We’ve got some work to do.”

“What kind of work?” Cryptor asked.

“Yes, and please explain why we need him?” Pythor gestured towards Cryptor.

Corria gave out a loud laugh, “The more the merrier,” she replied, “Besides, with Cryptor here to lead my nindroids, victory will be a lot more probable.”

Pythor rolled his eyes. “Are there any other surprise villains you’re recruiting?”

“Oh, I have someone in mind,” Corria answered. She walked over to the mysterious book she had on her desk and opened it up. She smiled and let out another laugh. “I told you this book would come in handy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pacing is a little weird and I apologize for that... I need to get better at my pacing, and hopefully the future chapters won't feel so weird


	4. Swift Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ninja continue fighting the mysterious army of nindroids when a familiar face shows up to the battle. The ninja are separated and need to get back together before it's too late.

It had been a couple days since Wu had explained fusion to the ninja. More nindroid attacks were happening in Ninjago, but the ninja couldn’t find the source. They had managed to fend them off without much struggle, but Jay still tried to convince the others that they needed Ridge.

“Listen Jay,” Cole said, “I love being Ridge as much as you do, but if Lloyd and Nya find out,”

“I get it,” Jay insisted, “We have to keep it a secret, but I’m just saying we’d get everything done a lot quicker.”

“Oh, I feel so bad for you,” Kai replied, clearly still upset about Wu’s orders.

“Someone’s touchy,” Jay commented.

“Please ignore Kai, he’s just a little upset,” Zane said.

“Ya think?” Kai retorted.

“Kai, I get it, your still upset Master Wu won’t let you fuse, but we can’t risk any unstable fusions,” Cole explained, “And we can’t risk Lloyd or Nya finding out about fusion either.” He turned back to Jay.

“Guys!” Nya walked up to the others, “We’ve got another report of a nindroid attack!”

“Well then, guess we’re going out,” Cole responded.

______________________________________________

“I see the nindroids are making good progress,” Corria commented as she walked into the room, carrying a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. 

Cryptor turned to her. “The nindroids keep getting defeated easily,” he retorted, “Why don’t you send me out to fight the ninja? I’ve fought them before, I know how to deal with them.”

“Patience, Cryptor,” Corria said, “You’ll have your time. We can’t reveal too much at once.” She placed her stuff on the table next to her mouse cage. She put a finger in the cage for the mice to sniff.

“Dr. Corria, where did you want this?” Pythor asked, holding a large bowl.

“Put it on the table over there,” she directed, pointing to a darker area in the large lab. Pythor obeyed and placed the bowl on the table. Corria began organizing the items she brought in.

“You never did tell us who this mysterious third person is,” Cryptor pointed out, “Who else could you possible need?”

Corria gave out a small chuckle. “Silly Cryptor, once I bring him in, our jobs will be a lot easier.”

“Who is it?” Pythor asked.

“All will make sense in time,” Corria responded.

Pythor rolled his eyes, “I hate it when she gets cryptic like this.”

“Pythor, go monitor the cameras,” Corria ordered.

“As you say,” Pythor obeyed, slithering to the main computer. 

Corria grabbed some supplies and walked over to the bowl on the table. She placed her book next to it and opened it to the correct page. She began placing and pouring things into the bowl and mixing it around. A mysterious purple smoke started to form around the bowl. Pythor and Cryptor both looked over in confusion.

“Are you using dark magic?” Cryptor asked, “I thought you were a scientist.”

“Oh, Cryptor, magic is just science with extra, unexplained steps,” Corria laughed, “The summoning may take a while, so we’ll have some free time.”

“Summoning?” Pythor questioned, “What kind of dark ritual have you dragged us into?”

Corria began laughing again. “Says the snake who summoned The Great Devourer to destroy Ninjago.”

“Would you stop bringing that up!?” Pythor retorted. The computer made a beep, causing Pythor to turn back to it. “The ninja have arrived on the scene,” Pythor announced.

Corria walked up to the computer screen. “I’ve noticed they haven’t been fusing. Perhaps the green one and the grey one don’t know. They weren’t at the first fight.”

“What are you saying?” Pythor asked.

“I need at least two of them for my research, preferably when they’re fused. I need the blue and black ones, but they won’t fuse if the green and grey ones are there.”

“You realize they have names, right?” Pythor questioned.

“It’s a lot easier to just call them by their colors,” Corria defended, “Anyway, we need to get those two away from the group,” She smiled and turned to Cryptor. “I believe your time has come, Cryptor.”

Cryptor let out an evil laugh. “Just let me know what to do.”

______________________________________________

“Take that!” Jay smacked one of the nindroids with his nunchucks. It turned, ready to attack the blue ninja, but Nya blasted it with water before it could hurt him. “Thanks, Nya!”

“Don’t sweat it,” Nya responded.

“Guys, is it just me, or are there more nindroids than before?” Kai asked.

“There are a lot more than usual,” Zane confirmed.

“Just keep fighting, we’ll get them,” Lloyd encouraged. 

As a large amount of nindroids began to swarm the ninja, another one flew down from the sky, landing on his feet. “It’s been a while,” the nindroid spoke.

The ninja all looked at the new nindroid in shock. “Cryptor!?” Zane asked, surprised to see his brother.

“Zane,” Cryptor acknowledged, “It would be fun to stick around and fight you like we used to, but I have other orders.” He turned to the nindroid army and sent out a signal to them. They all started to swarm each ninja individually.

“What’s going on?” Kai asked as he swatted them away with his sword.

“Cryptor seems to have sent them an order via a signal,” Zane explained.

“Can you intercept the signal?” Lloyd asked, pushing a nindroid back.

“I can try, but I can’t guarantee,” Zane attempted to reach the signal, but was overwhelmed by all the nindroids. “I can’t, there’s too many nindroids here to concentrate!”

Cryptor sent out another signal, and the nindroids moved their attack slightly. Many of them began running away, shooting energy balls along the way to create havoc, while another large number of them stayed back, attacking Lloyd and Nya. Cryptor gave a laugh of satisfaction.

“Good work, Cryptor,” Corria said on his communicator, “Everything is going to plan.”

“Lloyd! Nya!” Kai called.

“We’ll be fine!” Nya assured, “You guys go get the rest of them!”

“Kai, we have to go,” Cole ordered. 

Kai nodded, sure that his little siblings would be fine. The four ninja ran off to catch the rest of the nindroids, leaving Lloyd and Nya to fight the rest of them.

“Where are they going?” Jay questioned.

“Not sure, but wherever it is, they’re sure in a hurry,” Cole responded. Cole and Jay were nearing the group of nindroids with Kai and Zane following behind. The nindroids turned the corner, but before the ninja could follow, Cryptor showed up to block their path.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Cryptor asked, threateningly. He held out his arm which transformed into a type of gun. He shot two nets out at both Jay and Cole, trapping them. Cole tried to rip the net apart, but couldn’t.

“Don’t think you’ll get out of that,” Cryptor taunted, “That rope as been infused with vengestone. Your powers are useless.”

“Cole! Jay!” Kai yelled. He ran up to attack Cryptor but he quickly dodged and kicked Kai to the ground. Zane ran up to Jay and attempted to free him from the net, but Cryptor shot an energy blast at him, launching him away. A truck appeared from the corner, revealed to be driven by one of the nindroids. Another one jumped out and picked up Jay while Cryptor grabbed Cole.

“No! They didn't fuse!” Corria yelled through the communicator.

“No worries,” Cryptor said, walking to the truck with Cole, “You said they didn’t necessarily need to be fused.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Corria replied, “Carry on.”

Zane slowly stood up and ran over to Kai, helping him up. Cryptor and the nindroid 

tossed Cole and Jay into the back of the truck and then climbed to the front with the other nindroid. Cryptor gave one more look at the other two and laughed. “Thanks for the help,” he replied before they drove off.

“Jay! Cole!” Kai yelled. He started after the truck until Zane grabbed his arm.

“Kai, we won’t be able to catch them, we have no vehicles!” Zane said.

“We can’t just let Cryptor take them!” Kai retorted. He watched the truck and turned back to Zane. His face went serious as he looked at the nindroid. “We need to fuse.”

“What!?” Zane questioned, “Kai, that could be very dangerous! With our differing personalities, there’s no telling how unstable we could-”  
“Zane!” Kai interrupted, “This is about saving Cole and Jay. I understand that this is risky, but it’s a risk we’re gonna have to take.”

Zane looked at Kai and then at the truck as it sped away. He sighed. “Ok, let’s do it…”

“Cole!” Jay struggled to try and free himself from the net, “We have to form Ridge!”

“We can’t, vengestone gets rid of  _ all  _ of our powers!” Cole reminded.

“Stupid vengestone,” Jay huffed, “How else are we supposed to get out of here?”

“I-I don’t know,” Cole admitted. 

“Great, so now we’re stuck here going who knows where to who knows- WHAHH!” Jay was cut off by a large dart that pierced through the metal door, creating a hole. “What the?” Jay questioned. They heard a THUMP on the roof of the truck. Before they could say anything, the doors bursted open, causing Jay and Cole to flinch away.

“Sorry, am I interrupting anything?” a mysterious voice spoke.

Jay and Cole slowly opened their eyes to see a pink ninja with light brown hair. His suit had yellow and grey on it and part of his face was metallic. He was holding another large dart, similar to the first one.

“Y-you guys fused!” Jay cheered, partially shocked.

“Thanks for the obvious, Jay,” the fusion retorted, “Now, let’s get you guys out of here with a little fire power.” He held out his dart which ignited in flames.

“Alright!” Cole cheered while Jay stared at the dart with worry.

The fusion quickly sliced both nets with his dart, releasing Cole and Jay. 

“Thanks, uh…” Cole started.

“You can call me Swift,” the fusion replied, “But enough introductions. What do you say we get out of here?”

“I am so ready for this!” Jay said, standing up.

Swift held out his hand, making his dart disappear. He turned around to the road. “Ice!” He yelled as he shot out ice from his hands, creating a slide for them to escape on. “You two go ahead, I’ve got something I wanna do first.”

“Uhh, ok,” Cole responded. He grabbed Jay’s hand and the two of them jumped onto the ice slide. 

Swift climbed out to the top of the truck and grabbed on as it sped down the street. He climbed closer to the front and looked over the window.

“What the!?” Cryptor yelled. 

“Hey, Cryptor,” Swift greeted snarkily. He shot ice at the wheels of the truck, causing it to stop immediately. Swift jumped off as it stopped, doing a flip before landing on his feet in front of the truck.

“You two fused!?” Cryptor asked angrily.

“So, you know about that?” Swift asked, “Glad to know you noticed. So, what was your mission?”

“Like I’d ever tell you,” Cryptor replied rudely.

“Yeah, guess I should’ve figured that,” Swift jumped up on the hood of the truck and leaned in towards Cryptor, putting a hand on the glass. The glass started to frost up around Swift’s hand. “Oh, and Cryptor,” Swift spoke, “If you ever try to take my friends again,” Swift quickly heated up the glass, causing it to shatter. Glass shards fell, scattering across the truck floor and hood. “I won’t let you go so easily,” Swift’s voice turned much harsher. Cryptor stared at the fusion, trying not to flinch. “Well, see ya,” Swift stood up and gave the nindroid a salute before jumping away.

He shot out a trail of ice with his feet as he slid away, also using fire from his hands to launch him faster. After he had managed to get a good distance away from the truck, he slid to a halt. “Swift!” he heard Jay calling. He turned and saw Jay and Cole standing somewhat nearby. “Swift, Lloyd and Nya are coming!” he warned.

“Oh, and I was just starting to have fun,” Swift teased, “Oh well.” Swift turned into light before calmly splitting back into Kai and Zane. 

They looked at each other, both their faces blank, before quickly turning into smiles as they laughed and hugged each other.

“What’s so funny?” Nya asked as she and Lloyd joined the others.

“Oh, nothing,” Zane responded.

“Other than we totally destroyed those guys!” Kai interjected.

“On the contrary, Kai, we actually left them in one piece,” Zane reminded.

“I meant emotionally, Zane,” Kai corrected, “Did you see Cryptor’s face? He was so scared!”

“Wow, looks like we missed a lot,” Nya commented.

“Yeah, apparently we did to,” Jay added.

“So then, I’ll take it you didn't catch them?” Lloyd asked.

“No, but at least now we have more information about this mysterious villain,” Kai replied, “Like now we know that Cryptor is working for them.”

“Still, it would’ve been nice if we had captured him,” Lloyd sighed.

“I’m not sure how helpful that would be,” Zane argued, “Cryptor is very stubborn. I doubt we’d be able to get a lot of information out of him.”

“Well, all we can do now is prepare for the future,” Lloyd stated, “C’mon, we’d better get back to the bounty.”

______________________________________________

“So,” Corria spoke, “You failed to capture them?”

“I-yes…” Cryptor replied shamefully, “Kai and Zane fused. We couldn’t stop them.” Cryptor was expecting Corria to yell at him for his incompetence, but to his surprise, she started laughing. “Uhh, Dr. Corria?”

“This is quite the fascinating discovery,” Corria responded.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand.”

“Now we know you don’t necessarily have to be human to fuse,” Corria turned around to the nindroid. “The white one isn’t human, but he was still able to fuse with the red one. Good. That means my plan is still probable.” She walked away towards the table. The smoke had cleared up, leaving a mysterious substance in the bowl swirling around. “The summoning is almost complete. I just need to do one more step.” she grabbed what looked like a special tea brew that she began pouring into the mixture. It began to turn a sickly green color. It started radiating a light that filled the entire room. A strange pattern began to form underneath the bowl, growing bigger and bigger before it completely consumed the bowl. As it got bigger, the table fell in as well. A figure began to rise out of the portal, floating above Corria as she stared up in glee. The portal quickly faded away while the figure continued to float. He slowly opened his eyes. He started to look around shocked.

“Where am I? What happened?” he asked, floating down to the ground.

Corria began laughing maniacally. “It worked! It actually worked!” she cheered.

“Who are you?” the ghostly voice demanded.

“Wait, is that?” Cryptor asked.

Corria looked over at him and nodded. “The one and only, elemental master of wind, Morro.”

Morro continued staring at Corria in shock, taking in his surroundings. “Why did you summon me? What do you want?”

“Finally, now that I have an elemental master working for me, this should be a lot easier,” Corria rambled, ignoring the question.

“Working for you?” Morro asked, “Who said I was working for you?”

“I did, were you not listening?” Corria laughed again, “No matter, we’ve got work to do. We’ll have to come up with a new plan to catch the ninja and-”

“Wait, the ninja?” Morro questioned, “No, no, no, I’m not fighting the ninja. I’m done being their enemy.”

Corria blinked at the ghost before laughing, even louder than before. Morro stepped back slightly, shocked by the scientist’s strange behavior. “Oh, I get it now!” she said, “You think you have a choice, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The spell I used to summon you made you loyal to me no matter what,” Corria explained, “You literally have to do what I say.”

“You can’t order me around,” Morro argued.

Corria gave one last chuckle. “Alright then, Morro, why don’t you bring that cup to me?” she gestured towards a cup sitting on another table.

Morro looked over at it and then back at Corria. “I’m not going to- ARGH!” Morro fell to the ground. He was suddenly overwhelmed with pain. “What’s-why am I-”

“Like I said, Morro, you HAVE to listen to me,” Corria said once more, “Now, go get me that cup.”

“I’m not going to-ARAGH!” Morro let out another scream of pain. Corria simply watched him as he shook with pain. “Ok! Ok, I’ll grab the cup!” The pain suddenly faded. Morro continued kneeling on the ground, attempting to catch his breath. He slowly stood up, his legs shaky. He walked over and grabbed the cup, bringing it back to Corria. She took the cup and smiled before dropping to the ground, causing it to shatter instantly. Morro looked at the shards on the ground and then back at Corria. “SERIOUSLY!?” he yelled.

“That was just a test so you know what you’re messing with,” Corria giggled, “Don’t worry, I won’t make you clean it up, Cryptor will do it.” She turned over to Cryptor who was staring at the two in complete shock. “Cryptor, the glass?”

“Oh… yes, Corria,” Cryptor walked over and began picking up the shards. They did no harm to him as he was a nindroid. 

Corria turned back to Morro and gave him a sweet looking smile. “I’m glad you’re here to help. I really appreciate it.” Corria walked into the other room, leaving her two servants alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm not the best at action scenes. I've been getting better, but I kinda feel like the pacing is really fast here. Idk, maybe it's just me


	5. The Infiltration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their last fight with the nindroids, the ninja begin debating who they're up against. With some candidates in mind, they head off to find their secret base to get some answers, and things don't really go as planned...

The ninja arrived back at the bounty. “Master Wu, we’re back,” Lloyd announced. The ninja all walked onto the main deck. They heard no response from Master Wu. “Master Wu?” Lloyd called again.

Zane turned his head and noticed a piece of paper left behind. He picked it up and examined it. “It’s a letter from Master Wu,” he explained, “It says that he left to look for Garmadon again.”

“What?” Jay questioned, “But I thought he said he came back to help us.”

“It also says that he has faith in our abilities to defend Ninjago and that finding Garmadon is a top priority,” Zane continued.

“So, we’re on our own again?” Kai asked.

“Seems like it,” Cole responded.

“We’re not on our own,” Lloyd interjected, “We have each other. Master Wu trusts us to be able to be on our own. We’ve had to save Ninjago multiple times without him. We’ll be fine.”

“Lloyd’s right,” Nya agreed, “Master Wu will be back, in the meantime, we’ll just have to figure this nindroid stuff ourselves.” They all started walking away towards the control room, but Jay grabbed Kai’s arm, pulling him back.

“Wha- Jay?” Kai asked, slightly annoyed.

“So, how’d it feel?” Jay asked back.

“How did what feel?” Kai questioned.

“Your first time fusing!” Jay answered, “You guys were really cool! Pun partially intended.”

“Ha, yeah, it was great!” Kai replied, “I kinda wish Master Wu was here so we could tell him. Despite the fact Zane and I are completely different, we ended up creating a stable fusion. Maybe Master Wu was wrong.”

“I don’t think we can assume that just yet,” Jay said, “We’ve only seen two fusions. And it only makes sense for them to be stable considering how close I am to Cole and how close you are with Zane.”

“But Master Wu also said relationships weren’t as important as the personality traits,” Kai reminded, “But that was clearly wrong, Swift wasn’t dangerous at all.”

“Kai, Jay? You guys coming?” Nya called after the two.

“Yeah, hold on,” Kai called back. He turned back to Jay. “Well, at least we have two fusions we can count on now.” Jay nodded in agreement. 

“Guys?” Nya called again.

“We’re coming!” Kai replied. The two ninja walked up to the control room where everyone else was waiting. Nya was standing at the computer with various photos pulled up. 

“So,” she said, “We don’t know a lot about this villain, but we do know that they have a thing for building nindroids. We also know that they managed to rebuild Cryptor.”

“What if it’s Cryptor is the one in charge?” Cole suggested.

“That’s not possible,” Zane explained, “Cryptor specifically said he was following someone’s orders. He also seemed to be in contact with whoever’s in charge during the fight.”

“So, we know that Cryptor is working for someone,” Nya summarized, “Who that is, we have no clue.”

“Maybe it’s Pythor,” Jay suggested.

“Could be,” Lloyd said, “We haven’t seen him in a long time, and he did work with Cryptor before.”

“There’s also not a lot of previous villains it could be,” Kai pointed out, “Most of them are in the Departed Realm now.”

“You guys are forgetting something,” Nya said, “This could be someone entirely new. Someone we’ve never met before.”

“I don’t think we have enough information to decide yet,” Lloyd spoke.

“Lloyd’s right,” Nya confirmed, “If we’re going to stop this person, we need to find out more stuff.”

“How do we do that?” Cole asked.

“I’m glad you asked,” Nya responded, “If we can manage to follow one of the nindroids back to its base, we should be able to find their creator.”

“But how will we be able to follow one all the way back to its base?” Kai questioned.

“That’s the tricky part,” Nya explained, “We’ll just have to be sneaky about it. We can split up into groups. Kai and Jay will go to the northern part of Ninjago City, Zane and Cole can go to central Ninjago City, and Lloyd and I will go to the south.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Lloyd confirmed, “You guys all ready to go?”

The ninja all nodded except for Jay. “Right now? We just got back from fighting all those nindroids! Can’t we rest?”

“We don’t have time to rest, Jay,” Lloyd explained, “We need the information.”

Jay let out a groan. “But we just had such a long day,” he argued.

“It wouldn’t hurt to rest,” Zane added.

“Alright, alright,” Lloyd surrendered, “We’ll go out tomorrow.”

______________________________________________

The next day, Corria was in a smaller room in her secret lab along with Morro. 

“What’s this room for?” Morro asked, a slight edge to his tone.

“Oh, this is just a room for testing stuff,” Corria replied, “Test one.” She quickly turned and punched Morro in the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?” he asked.

“Good, my theory was correct. Your ghost form is weaker,” Corria explained.

Morro blinked, suddenly realizing what just happened. “Wait, how were you able to touch me?”

“You really need to listen more,” Corria replied with a smile, “The summoning made your ghost abilities weaker. You can still phase through things, but now it requires more concentration.”

“What… what else was affected?” Morro asked.

“That’s what the tests are for!” Corria answered, “Now, I want to test your-”

“Dr. Corria!” Pythor interrupted her, opening the door.

“Yes, Pythor?”

“One of the scouter nindroids has spotted two of the ninja, Cole and Zane.” Pythor explained. Corria blinked at the serpentine, a blank expression of her face. Pythor sighed. “The black one and the white one.”

“Oh, why didn’t you just say so?” Corria responded. “Are they attacking?”

“No, they haven’t noticed them yet,”

“Good. Keep an eye on them,” Corria ordered. 

Pythor nodded and left the room. He slithered up to the computer and activated the microphone. “You, nindroid!” he yelled, “Keep an eye on those two ninja.” The nindroid nodded and began following Cole and Zane.

“I’m surprised we haven’t ran into anything yet,” Cole spoke.

“There haven’t been any reports of nindroids attacking, so it makes sense,” Zane commented. 

“I know, it just feels like we’ve had to deal with these guys so much but as soon as we  _ want  _ to find one, we can’t” Cole complained.

“Hopefully the others are having better luck,” Zane replied. The two of them continued walking until they heard something. Zane held up his hand, gesturing for Cole to stop. They looked around to see what made the sound, and suddenly noticed a nindroid behind them, watching them.

“We’ve been spotted!” Pythor yelled to Corria in the other room.

“Well then retreat! We won’t be able to defeat them with only one nindroid,” Corria ordered.

The nindroid began running away. “Quick! After it!” Cole yelled. The two ninja began running after the nindroid. Zane clicked his communication device.

“Can you guys hear me?” he asked.

“Loud and clear,” Lloyd responded.

“Cole and I have found a nindroid. We’re following it now,” Zane informed.

“Alright, we’ll make sure to head there too,” Nya said.

“What was that they said?” Kai asked. He was standing over a destroyed nindroid. Jay turned around to him and frowned.

“Kai, you weren’t supposed to destroy it!” Jay said, “We were supposed to follow it!”

“He had it coming,” Kai defended. 

Jay rolled his eyes, but then spotted something in the distance. “Kai, look! There’s another one there!” he pointed.

Kai turned around, looking at the nindroid. “Alright, let’s follow it!”

Zane and Cole continued to follow the nindroid throughout the city. Eventually, they reached a building near the outskirts of the city. It looked big and old, like nothing had touched it in years. 

Pythor continued watching the monitor. “Corria, we’ve been followed,” he informed.

“Get Cryptor and go capture them,” Corria directed.

Pythor nodded and slithered away. He entered the other room where Cryptor was monitoring the nindroid construction process. “Cryptor, the ninja have infiltrated the base. Corria ordered us to capture them.”

“All of them?” Cryptor asked.

“No, only Cole and Zane.”

Cryptor gave a snarky laugh at the mention of his brother. “Too easy.” The two of them used their abilities to disappear and ran to the entrance.

Cole smashed the nindroid with his hammer before it could enter the secret base. “So, this is where the nindroids are coming from?” Cole asked.

“It seems that way,” Zane commented, “Shall we enter?”

“What else would we do?” Cole retorted playfully. The two of them entered through the main door. Everything seemed surprisingly unprotected. “You sure we’re in the right place?” Cole questioned.

“This has to be the place,” Zane replied, “It’s where the nindroid was headed.”

“You’re correct,” a voice spoke from behind the two. They turned around where Cryptor and Pythor revealed themselves.

“Pythor! Cryptor!” Cole yelled.

“Long time no see, ninja,” Pythor replied. He held out a staff and smacked Cole over the head with it, knocking him out.

“Cole!” Zane yelled. Before he could react, Cryptor launched a net at the white ninja, trapping him. Zane struggled against the net, but managed to activate his communicator. “Nya! If you can hear, me, we’ve been captured by Cryptor and Pythor!”

“What? Zane, what happened?” Nya asked.

“Cole is knocked out, we-” Zane was cut off by Cryptor roughly stomping his foot on the nindroid. He stepped on the nindroid’s wrist, destroying the communicator.

“Zane? Zane!” Nya yelled, “Kai, Zane and Cole have been captured!” 

“What? Where are they?” Kai asked.

“Weren’t you paying attention? They followed a nindroid to the base!” Nya explained.

“Really? Jay and I just followed one to the base,” Kai informed. He had destroyed this nindroid too as the two ninja stood outside the base.

“Ok, the base is in the northern area of Ninjago City,” Nya said, “It may be awhile before Lloyd and I can get there.”

“We’ve got this, sis,” Kai assured, “Jay, have you found a way in yet?”

“There’s an air vent we can crawl through,” Jay answered.

“Perfect.” Kai used his fire to melt the plate. After it cooled off, the two ninja climbed into the air vent. “Nya, do you have their locations?” Kai asked.

“It’s hard to read, but I believe they’re in the middle of the lab.”

“Ok, we’re heading there now,” Kai turned off his communicator and continued crawling. The atmosphere was dark and quiet. “Hey, Jay?” Kai said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?” Jay responded.

“When you and Cole fused the first time, what was it like?” Kai asked.

“What do you mean? You’ve fused,” 

“Yeah, but, Zane and I fused on purpose. When you guys fused the first time, it was on accident. How did it feel?”

Jay thought for a moment. “It was weird. I didn’t realize I was someone different at first, it just felt natural. It wasn’t until you pointed it out that I realized I was Ridge.”

“That sounds… confusing,” Kai replied.

“It felt confusing,” Jay said, “It’s just kinda hard to explain. It was just like-WHAHH!” The air vent suddenly broke due to its old age and Kai and Jay’s combined weight. Jay fell into a room below.

“Hold on, Jay, I’m coming!” Kai announced, jumping down the hole. He helped Jay up.

“Thanks,” Jay said as he stood up. They looked around and realized they were in a room full of nindroids. They all turned their heads to the ninja.

“INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!” they blasted.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Jay said.

Zane and Cole were stuck in the main lab, tied up in the vengestone rope and trapped in a cage. “Cole, wake up!” Zane yelled. The black ninja was still unconscious from Pythor’s attack. When he didn’t wake up, Zane gave an annoyed sigh.

“You sound upset, Zane,” Cryptor commented, “Maybe we should play some T.V. to make you feel better.” He switched the monitor over to a surveillance camera. The camera showed a room full of nindroids with Kai and Jay in the middle.

“Kai! Jay!” Zane yelled. 

“Kai, I don’t think we can beat all of them,” Jay said, discouraged.

“Can you two hear me?” Nya spoke through the communicator.

“Just barely,” Kai responded.

“It’s taking us a little longer than we thought to get over there,” she informed.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Kai said.

“I’m sure you guys will be, but what about Zane and Cole?”

“We’ll find them don’t worry,” Kai assured, “Now, if you don’t mind, we have some nindroids to fight.” Before Nya could reply, Kai turned off his communicator. He pulled out his sword as Jay pulled out his nunchucks. They began fighting the army of nindroids, a difficult task due to the small space they were in.

“Looks like your friends came here to join you,” Cryptor taunted, “And you don’t have that pink fusion of yours to rely on this time.”

Zane gave an annoyed grunt. He continued to try and break free from the net, though he continued to fail.

“There’s too many of them!” Jay shouted.

“Keep fighting!” Kai ordered. 

Jay shot out a bolt of lightning, knocking back some nindroids, but not destroying them. Kai shot out some fire balls, but they weren’t very effective. Kai and Jay were getting cornered, their backs to each other.

“C’mon! We can do it!” Kai encouraged.

Jay nodded, and turned back to the nindroids. He began charging a large amount of electricity around his body. As the nindroids drew closer, Kai started surrounding himself with fire. The two ninja released their powers, creating a large blast of light. The blast was strong enough to take out the camera, turning it to static.

“What!?” Cryptor yelled.

Zane continued staring at the computer screen with fear. He heard a grunt and turned to Cole who was finally starting to wake up.

“Ow, my head,” Cole said.

“Cole!” his communicator went off.

“Nya? What is it?” Cole asked.

“What happened in there?” Nya asked, worried.

“What are you talking about?” Cole questioned.

“Kai and Jay’s trackers are messed up, it’s only showing one person in the room they’re in.”

Cole and Zane both looked at each other before looking back at the static screen.

The nindroids all lay of the ground after the large blast. They all slowly stood back up and faced the spot where the two ninja were standing. However, in their place, stood a new figure with a purple gi and wild, brown hair. He opened his eyes and grinned.

“Huh, so that’s what it feels like,” he said, “Alright then, looks like Fleet’s here to save the day!” He held out his arms and generated fire and lightning before summoning a kusarigama. “Who’s first?” he asked with a cocky tone, “Oh, who cares, everyone’s game for me!” He swung his kusarigama, knocking out three nindroids at once. The rest of them held out their arms and began charging energy blasts. “That’s not good,” Fleet commented. They all fired their blasts at the fusion. Fleet quickly threw his blade the to ceiling and jumped up, swinging over the nindroids. He landed behind all of them as they all turned around. “Alright, how do you guys wanna go out, lighting? Or fire?” He held out both elements with his hands. “Oh, why not both?” He launched a large blast of fire and lightning, destroying the rest of the nindroids. “Well now, that was easy,” Fleet put an arm on his hip as he admired his accomplishment. He looked up at the broken air vent before jumping up to it to continue his search for the other two.

Cryptor entered the room full of nindroids to see all of them destroyed. “Where did they go?” he asked angrily. He looked up at the broken air vent. “They must be heading for the main lab,” he realized. Cryptor grunted before running back.

Fleet had reached the end of the vent and looked in at the large room. He noticed Pythor at a computer and a cage on the other side of the room with Zane and Cole tied up inside. “Bingo,” he said. He held out his arms and blasted the grate off with fire. Zane and Cole both looked up in surprise. Fleet summoned his kusarigama again and threw the blade to the other side of the room. He jumped out, swinging on his weapon. “No need to fear, Fleet is here!” he announced confidently.

“Oh my God, they fused,” Cole stated, the sound of concern in his voice. 

“What the?” Pythor asked, turning around towards the fusion. Fleet landed in front of the cage and gave a smirk to Pythor. 

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll get you out of here,” Fleet assured.

“Please do,” Cole responded.

“Right after I beat up Pythor,” Fleet continued.

“What?” Before Cole could say anything else, Fleet had already jumped into battle, kicking Pythor. Pythor quickly retaliated by swinging his tail, knocking Fleet over.

“I’ve barely even met you, but you’re already extremely annoying,” Pythor hissed.

“Annoying? I prefer the word extremely amazing,” Fleet retorted, resting his arm on his hand in a playful pose.

“Those are two words you dolt!” Pythor yelled.

Fleet quickly jumped back up and zapped Pythor with some electricity. After recovering, Pythor pulled out a staff and smacked Fleet with it on the head. “Ouch! What the heck!?” Fleet yelled, “Why would you do that!?”

“We’re fighting, you idiot!” Pythor yelled back.

“Is he going to free us soon?” Cole asked, looking at Zane.

“I really hope so,” he replied.

Fleet and Pythor continued their fight, until Cryptor entered the room. “Oh God, not another fusion!” he complained.

“My name is Fleet!” Fleet defended.

“I don’t care!” Cryptor yelled.

“Cryptor, shut up and help me defeat him,” Pythor ordered.

Cryptor rolled his eyes before joining in the fight.

“Fleet! Will you PLEASE free us!” Cole yelled.

Fleet turned to the two trapped ninja. “Oh, yeah, I forgot.” He quickly did a backflip away from the two villains. Fire surrounded the blade of his kusarigama as he sliced the cage open. He then did the same to the nets, freeing the two.

“Let’s get out of here,” Zane ordered.

“What? No way, I’m just getting started with these guys!” Fleet argued. Before he could jump back into battle, Cole grabbed the purple ninja. “Hey! Let me go!”

“And I thought you guys were annoying on your own,” Cole grunted. They ran out of the lab.

“They’re getting away!” Pythor yelled.

“No worries, Pythor,” Corria walked into the room, “Let them go, for now.”

Pythor looked at Corria before turning back to the ninja and grunting. “Did you finish your research about Morro?”

Corria nodded. “He’s not as strong as a normal ghost, but he still has his elemental abilities. That’s the important part.”

“So, does that mean we don’t have to capture the ninja anymore?” Cryptor asked.

“Of course not!” Corria replied, “They are vital to my research. We just need to get them at a better time,” Corria began to laugh, causing Pythor and Cryptor to give concerned looks to each other. “Everything is falling into place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I present to you- my favorite fusion! Yeah, Fleet's my favorite one. He's just a little shit most of the time and I love writing him and drawing him  
> This chapter is also kinda long, definitely longer than the other ones. I probably could have split it into two, but I was just having so much fun writing it


	6. The Secret Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Nya gets captured, Kai and Jay take it into their own hands to go and rescue her

The ninja managed to escape the lab and were on their way to meet with the others. Kai and Jay had already unfused so Lloyd and Nya wouldn’t see them. They went to the meeting spot, but they only saw Lloyd.

“Where’s Nya?” Cole asked.

“She said she saw something and went to go check it out,” Lloyd explained, “She said she’d meet us back at the bounty.”

“Did she say what it was?” Kai asked, concern in his voice.

Lloyd shook his head, “I trust her though. She knows what she’s doing, and if she needs our help, she’ll call us.”

Kai’s face showed concern, so Cole put his arm on his shoulder. “It’ll be fine, like Lloyd said, she knows what she’s doing.”

“Alright,” Kai sighed, “Let’s head back to the bounty.”

______________________________________________

“Hmm,” Nya said as she looked around, “I  _ thought _ I saw something. Guess I was wrong.”

“Were you?” a mysterious voice asked.

Nya quickly turned around and pulled out her trident. “Who’s there?” she demanded. She felt a tap on her shoulder and quickly turned around to see a nindroid standing behind her. “Cryptor!”

“What’s the matter?” Cryptor asked insincerely, “Got lost from your other ninja friends?”

“No, I just noticed something, that being you!” Nya quickly jumped at Cryptor, attempting to kick him, but he quickly dodged.

“Are you upset that you’ve been left out of the fight?” Cryptor questioned.

“I haven’t been left out,” Nya defended, “We’re a team and we stick together.”

“Is that so?” Without hesitation, Cryptor ran up to Nya and jabbed her side with a rod. It sent a large shock through her body and caused her to fall over.

“Why… you…” Nya managed to say with what little breath she had.

“How do you like the new weapon?” Cryptor asked, “It was built specifically to drain your energy for a short while.”

Nya was attempting to stand up, but struggled and fell down again. Cryptor walked over and grabbed her face, looking her in the eyes.

“Looks like you’re friends aren’t here to save you,” he taunted.

“I don’t need… saving…” Nya said before finally blacking out.

Cryptor put his hand to his head to communicate with the others. “I got the girl. The plan was a success.”

______________________________________________

It was much later and the ninja were at the bounty, waiting for Nya to get back, but she never did.

“Something bad must have happened,” Kai said, pacing back and forth on the deck.

“Calm down, Kai,” Lloyd tried to reason, “If she needed help, she would have called us.”

“If she needs help, she may not be able to call us!” Kai argued back.

“Kai has a point,” Jay said, “What is she got captured?”

“We just need to wait,” Zane said, “Nya will be fine. She’s strong and can handle herself.”

“Ugh,” Kai groaned. He walked off to the other room, not wanting to blow up at the others. He sat down and took a deep breath to try and calm down.  _ Nya is my sister, of course I’m going to be worried about her!  _ He heard the door open and turned around to see Jay enter the room. “What?” Kai asked, annoyance in his tone.

Jay sighed. “I know the others want us to wait, but I’m worried about Nya too,”

“Why are you worried so much?” Kai questioned, “You two broke up a long time ago.”

“Can’t I be concerned for a friend?” Jay asked, a slight edge to his voice.

“Ok, yeah, you’re right,” Kai sighed, “I’m just a little stressed out by all of this.”

“That’s understandable,” Jay agreed, “I mean, I don’t have any siblings that I’ve had to worry about, but it’s probably a terrible feeling knowing that they might be in trouble and you can’t help.”

Jay sat next to Kai. They both sat silently for a while until they heard a buzz coming from Kai’s communication device.

“What’s that?” Jay asked, “Is it Nya?”

“Shhh!” Kai ordered. He tried to listen to his communication device, but he only heard static. He gave out an annoyed sigh. “The thing must be busted.” He went to turn it off until he heard a voice.

“Kai!” Nya’s voice sounded.

“Nya!” Kai yelled, “Where are you? Are you ok?”

“Can’t… Captured… Cryptor…” Nya’s voice was cutting in and out.

“Nya, I didn’t quite catch that, the signal is messing up.”

“Breaking… Can’t find…” Nya’s voice turned to complete static before the device turned off.

“Nya? Nya!” Kai yelled, “She’s in trouble!”

“Where is she?” Jay asked.

“Not sure, but she mentioned Cryptor, so she’s probably in that hideout.” Kai reasoned.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Jay asked, “Let’s go!”

Kai nodded and the two of them headed out of the room.

______________________________________________

“Kai?” Nya was trying to contact her brother through her communication device. “Ugh, it must’ve gotten damaged.” Cryptor had thrown her in a cage while she was knocked out. She woke up tied up in rope, but she still managed to activate her communication device. She saw the door nearby open up and expected to see Cryptor walk in, but to her surprise, it was someone she had never seen before. The newcomer wore a white, scientist-like outfit and had short, messy hair with a large pair of goggles on her head. She stared directly at Nya with a piercing, unblinking gaze.

“Aw, the grey one,” the scientist spoke.

“So, you’re the one in charge, huh?” Nya questioned, “What so you want with me?”

The scientist giggled, “I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise,” she said. She walked up to the cage to get a closer look at Nya, who backed away slightly. “Fascinating,” the scientist said before backing away to type something on a computer.

“So, do you have a name?” Nya asked, trying to break free from the ropes.

“My name is Dr. Corria,” she answered, “But you can call me Corria.” She smiled at Nya.

“Alright then, Corria, what do you want me for?” Nya asked again.

“It’s not you specifically I want,” Corria stated, “You were just the one Cryptor managed to find alone.”

“What do you mean ‘specifically’?”

“Well, to be honest, I would have preferred one of the others, you know, the ones who have experience with the ability I’m studying.” Corria explained.

“Others?” Nya asked, “And what’s this ability you’re talking about?”

Corria turned back to Nya. “What if I told you your friends were keeping something from you?” she asked, “Something big.”

______________________________________________

Night had fallen on Ninjago. Kai and Jay had snuck off the bounty to go on their secret mission to save Nya.

“So, the others don’t know about this, right?” Kai asked.

“No,” Jay responded, “But, I  _ may  _ have left a note saying that we left.”

“What!?” Kai asked angrily, “They weren’t supposed to know, because then they might come after us!”

“I didn’t know we were keeping it a secret until AFTER I left the note!” Jay defended.

“Ok, we’ll just have to be quick,” Kai said. He held out his hand towards Jay, creating a ball of fire. “Shall we?”

Jay grinned and nodded. He grabbed Kai’s hand while surrounding his own with lightning. They two glowed and fused together, forming Fleet.

“Let’s do this,” Fleet grinned, summoning his weapon before running towards where they found the secret base. He ran on the rooftops where he’d be less likely to be spotted. He looked up at the sky, smiling at the beautiful stars that shined in the night. He looked back ahead to the next building before jumping towards it. “I could really get used to this whole existing thing,” he said to himself. He skidded to a halt as he noticed a familiar building. “This is it,” he stated as he stared at the laboratory. He jumped off the building he was on, doing a flip in the air as he fell. Unfortunately, he messed up the landing and fell into a dumpster, creating a loud CRASH sound, his weapon also poofing away on impact. “Ouch…” Fleet said as he slowly got back up. He climbed out of the dumpster, brushing garbage off his body and throwing a banana peel that was in his hair. “A bit of a rough start, but that’s ok!” Fleet said optimistically, “Now, time to go save Nya!” He ran towards the lab and crawled into the air vent that was still open from last time. He came across the hole in the vent and jumped down. He looked around to see the room was still full of broken nindroids. “Wow, they really need to hire a maid or something,” Fleet commented before walking to the next room.

The hallways were surprisingly quiet. There were security cameras, but they didn’t seem to be working. “This place must be more run down than I thought,” Fleet stated. He reached the end of the hallway and turned to corner, but ran into someone, knocking both of them over.

“WHAH!? Who’s there!?” Fleet demanded, quickly standing back up.

“Ouch, what the heck was that for?” Fleet looked to see Nya on the ground, glaring at the purple ninja. “Who are you, some sort of ninja wannabe?” Nya asked.

“Ninja wannabe!?” Fleet asked defensively, “I AM a ninja! I- wait a minute,” Fleet paused and turned around.

_ We weren’t supposed to be seen!  _ Jay panicked,  _ Why did we go in as Fleet!? _

_ Relax, Jay,  _ Kai tried to calm Jay down,  _ She doesn’t recognize us, our cover isn’t blown. _

Fleet turned back to Nya and gave a cocky grin. “The name’s Fleet. I’m just a travelling hero who came to save you.”

“Thanks, but I got this handled,” Nya responded, standing up, “After I got that science lady to start talking, I was able to free myself.”

“Oh,” Fleet responded.  _ Of course she had it handled!  _ Fleet thought,  _ Guess the others were right…  _ “So, do you know the way out of here?” he asked.

“No, but I assume you do,” Nya said, “Which way did you come from?”

“Oh, it was this way,” Before Fleet could start walking the exit, a nindroid started walking down the hallway. “Nindroid!” Fleet yelled, panicked.

“We can take him,” Nya said, pulling out her trident. She looked at Fleet. “You have a weapon, right?”

“Uhh,” Fleet began thinking.

_ We can’t summon our weapon,  _ Jay thought,  _ We need to use our elemental powers to summon it! _

_ I’ve got an idea,  _ Kai assured.

“Turn around,” Fleet ordered.

“What?” Nya asked, “Why?”

“I have a weapon, but using it requires no one to watch,” Fleet lied.

“But won’t the nindroid see it?”

\ “JUST TURN AROUND!” Fleet yelled.

Nya flinched a bit at Fleet’s sudden change of mood. “Ok, ok,” Nya obeyed, turning away from the purple ninja.

Fleet sighed and held out his hands. Sparks of lightning and fire began to generate from his hands until his kusarigama formed in his hands. “Alright, you can look now.”

Nya turned around and gave a small gasp when she saw Fleet’s weapon. “How did you do that?” she asked.

“It’s a secret,” Fleet responded, giving a thumbs up to the water ninja. 

“INTRUDER! INTRUDER!” the nindroid sounded.

Fleet threw the blade of his kusarigama at the nindroid, causing sparks to fly off of it. Nya ran up and kicked it down to the ground. Suddenly, a loud siren started to sound, the noise filling the entire hallway.

“Run!” Fleet yelled. Nya obeyed, running down the hallway with Fleet following behind.

“Where’s the exit at?” Nya called back at Fleet.

“At the end of this hallway,” Fleet yelled, “There’s an air vent in the ceiling you can crawl through!” A large army of nindroids appeared in the hallway behind the two ninja. “More nindroids are coming!” Fleet informed.

“Great,” Nya said sarcastically. They reached the end of the hallway and entered the room. Nya looked at all the broken nindroids scattered on the ground. “What happened here?”

“Oh, I did that earlier,” Fleet confessed, “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Wait, earlier?” Nya asked, “These look like they’ve been here for a while. How long were you here?”

“Uhh…” Fleet realized his mistake, “No time to explain! The nindroids are coming!” He pointed up to the air vent, “There! Climb up there!”

“I can’t!” Nya yelled, “There’s nothing to climb to get up there!”

Fleet kicked a nindroid back before running over to Nya. He handed her his kusarigama. “Use this,” he said.

“How will you get out?” Nya asked.

“I can always make another one,” Fleet said with another thumbs up. He turned back and kicked another nindroid. “Now hurry!”

Nya quickly threw the kusarigama up to the air vent like a grappling hook. Then she climbed it up and looked down, waiting for Fleet. “Fleet, hurry!” she yelled.

The nindroid army had surrounded Fleet.  _ It’s no use, I can’t attack them with my powers or Nya will see!  _ He looked up at Nya. “Go without me, I’ll find another way!” He yelled.

“No, I can’t leave you!” Nya yelled back, “A ninja never leaves another ninja behind!”

“WOULD YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME, NYA!?” Fleet yelled, “I’ll be ok! Trust me!”

“I’ve literally just met you, how can I trust you to make it out?”

“Just go and meet up with the others!” Fleet ordered, “I’ll be ok!” Fleet gave Nya one last thumbs up.

Nya sighed, “Alright.” She began crawling away to the exit. 

Before Fleet could attack the nindroids with his powers, they quickly overpowered him, grabbing him and leaving him immobilized. He heard a door open and saw a scientist walk into the room with a big smile on her face.

“Good job,” she said, “You got one of the fusions.”

______________________________________________

Nya continued to crawl through the air vent, still holding onto Fleet’s kusarigama. “Who was that guy?” she asked herself, “I think there’s more to him than he was letting on.” She reached the exit and looked back, waiting to see if Fleet was behind her. She looked at his kusarigama again until it poofed away, small sparks of fire and lightning flying off of it as it disappeared. “What the?” Nya looked back at the vent. “There’s DEFINITELY something that guy isn’t telling me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there was a long break between chapters, I just had other things I wanted to work on. Please remember that writing fics is something I do in my free time when I feel motivated to do so. It's really hard to write when I have to force myself to do so.  
> The pacing is weird in this chapter and I apologize, it's been a while since I've really written anything.


	7. Breakout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fleet is captured and can't escape. The others find out Kai and Jay went missing mysteriously, but Cole and Zane know exactly what happened to them.

“This is so exciting!” Corria cheered. She was in the main lab along with Pythor. The two of them were observing Fleet who they had captured in a glass containment device. “I need to go run some tests, Pythor, keep an eye on him.” Corria ordered before walking into the other room.

“So, what’s your big plan, Pythor?” Fleet asked. He was sitting down with his arms crossed, clearly frustrated at the fact he was captured. He attempted to unfuse before, but Corria had installed some sort of device in the glass container that prevented him from unfusing. 

“You should be asking Corria that,” Pythor replied, “I still have no idea what she even wants. I personally have no interest in this whole fusion thing.”

“Then, why are you working for her?” Fleet questioned.

“You have your reasons for doing things and so do I,” Pythor replied, “Why did you come here alone? You may not have been captured so easily if you had back up.”

“I didn’t come alone, I’m a fusion, so technically I’m never alone,” Fleet argued.

Pythor rolled his eyes. “I knew there was a reason I found you so annoying.”

The door opened as Cryptor walked into the room. “How’s the prisoner doing?” Cryptor asked.

“I’m doing fine, thanks for asking!” Fleet replied angrily.

Cryptor gave a little laugh. “Looks like you’re friends aren’t here to save you like last time.”

“I was kicking your butt last time!” Fleet argued.

“No, the others carried you out before you could get hurt,” Pythor responded, “Really must of put a damper on your confidence.”

“Pfft, nothing can hurt my confidence,” Fleet replied.

“Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that,” Pythor said. He turned to Cryptor. “Did Corria finish setting everything up?”

“Yes, she just finished,” Cryptor responded.

“Setting what up?” Fleet asked.

Cryptor laughed, ignoring Fleet’s question. “The poor thing doesn’t even know,” Cryptor walked up to a control panel next to the container. Fleet looked at it, feeling slightly concerned about what Cryptor was going to do. “This is going to hurt a lot,” Cryptor warned.

“What are you talking about!?” Fleet demanded.

Cryptor ignored the question and pulled a large lever on the control panel. The top of the container started to glow as it powered on. Fleet looked up at it, fear beginning to show in his eyes. A jolt of energy blasted at Fleet, shocking him.

“WHAHH!” Fleet yelled as the pain surged through his body. He fell over slightly as the energy continued to blast him. Cryptor looked over and laughed at Fleet as he struggled against the pain. The device powered off, giving Fleet a chance to breathe. “What… was… that?” he asked, trying not to flinch at the pain.

“If you think it’s over, you’re wrong,” Cryptor said, “We still need to collect more power from you.”

______________________________________________

“Nya, what happened?” Lloyd asked. Nya had arrived back at the bounty the next day only to learn that Kai and Jay had gone missing. Cole and Zane ended up finding the note Jay left, but didn’t share it with the others.

“I got captured by Cryptor,” Nya explained, “I found out who him and Pythor are working for. It’s this scientist named Corria. I don’t know what she’s planning, but it can’t be good.”

“How did you escape?” Cole asked.

“Oh, I managed to free myself when Corria was distracted, but then I got help from this mysterious guy,” Nya continued, “He looked like a ninja, which was weird. He was wearing a purple gi and had some weird powers.”

Cole and Zane looked at each other nervously and then turned back to Nya. “You didn’t happen to get his name, did you?” Zane asked.

“His name was Fleet,” Nya responded, “Which just adds to the weirdness, like, what kind of a name is that? He ended up getting swarmed with nindroids. I don’t know if he ever made it out”

“Oh no,” Cole said quietly.

“Is something wrong, Cole?” Lloyd asked.

“You’ll have to excuse us,” Cole said, backing up slightly, “C’mon, Zane.” The two of them walked off, leaving Lloyd and Nya alone and confused.

“Did you find anything else out?” Lloyd asked, turning back to Nya.

“Corria mentioned something about the others hiding something from me,” Nya answered, “But I told her not to bother, thinking she was just trying to get in my head,” She looked over to where Cole and Zane were standing before they left. “Now I’m starting to think she might have been onto something.”

“This is bad,” Cole said. Him and Zane were in one of the cabins so the others wouldn’t be able to hear them. “What were they thinking? They know Nya isn’t supposed to know about fusion!”

“It sounds like Nya didn’t recognize them,” Zane responded, “They seemed to have at least not blown their cover.”

Cole sighed and pulled out the note Jay left. “I doubt they would be out all night for no reason. They must have been captured too.”

“If this Corria person managed to capture them when they were still fused, who knows what she’d do with Fleet,” Zane said, “We don’t know what she’s planning, and I have a feeling it has something to do with our new fusions.”

“We have to go save them!” Cole demanded, “We can’t let Lloyd or Nya know who Fleet really is, and we still don’t know if they’re even still fused or not, so we can’t tell them.”

“Looks like we’re gonna have to sneak out then,” Zane decided, “But what if we won’t be able to save them with just the two of us? Corria has an army of nindroids that can easily overpower us.”

Cole thought for a moment before looking back at Zane. “I think I have an idea.”

______________________________________________

“AGH!” Fleet screamed as the machine continued to shock him. It powered off again, leaving Fleet shaking on the ground.

“Had enough yet?” Cryptor mocked.

“Bring it… on…” Fleet responded, glaring at the nindroid.

“For someone so small, I have to admit, he’s pretty tough,” Pythor said, slithering up to Cryptor.

“Ha ha!” Fleet cheered weakly. “I’m… tougher than I look!”

“Yes, I literally just said that,” Pythor replied with an annoyed tone.

“We just need a little more energy,” Cryptor informed, “As soon as the machine cools down again, we should be able to finish up.” He looked over at Fleet again who was still on the ground. “Looks like you’re friends aren’t coming.”

Fleet opened his mouth to object, but was interrupted by a loud CRASH. The entire room was filled with a dust cloud as rocks flew everywhere. A large rock smashed the container holding Fleet, scattering glass shards everywhere.

“What the!? What’s going on!?” Cryptor demanded.

Pythor was coughing from the dust. “We’re under attack you idiot!” 

Fleet coughed as the dust began to settle, making the room visible again. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a mysterious figure standing in front of him, facing away. He couldn’t make out who it was at first, just that someone was standing there. As the dust continued to clear, Fleet could begin to make out more details. He was holding a crossbow in one hand with an arrow already loaded. He was wearing a grey gi with black accents. His hair was black and looked extremely smooth. Fleet looked up at the newcomer in awe. The grey ninja turned his head to look back at Fleet, revealing his face to be made of titanium. The expression on his face seemed surprisingly calm. He looked down at Fleet with his emerald green eyes.

“Hey,” he said.

“Uhh…” Fleet was speechless. He could feel his entire face turn red until turned into light, falling apart and splitting back into Jay and Kai.

The grey ninja turned back to Pythor and Cryptor.

“Who is this?” Pythor asked.

The grey ninja quickly shot his arrow towards Pythor. It landed next to him and began to surround the serpentine with ice.

“You idiot, clearly he’s a fusion!” Cryptor yelled, pulling out his sword.

Jay and Kai both groaned, both exhausted from fusing. They both looked at each other and noticed their faces were both slightly red. They both turned back to the fusion who was fighting Pythor and Cryptor.

Pythor was attempting to break the ice that was surrounding him. Cryptor was jumping at the fusion, swinging his sword. The fusion kept dodging every swing, not taking his eyes off the nindroid. He stomped his foot, shooting a rock from the ground that launched Cryptor back. He shot another arrow at the nindroid as he landed against the wall. Like with Pythor, ice began to surround Cryptor, keeping him trapped.

“They won’t stay trapped forever,” the fusion said, “C’mon.” He turned back to the two ninja. 

“Ok,” Kai said. He tried to stand up but quickly fell down again. Before he could say anything, the fusion picked him up gently, holding his back with one hand and his legs with the other before turning to Jay.

“You need help too?” he asked.

“Uhh, yes please,” Jay replied awkwardly.

The fusion squatted so the blue ninja could climb onto his back. After Jay had a good grip, the fusion stood up again.

Pythor grabbed a nearby rock and smashed the ice keeping him stuck. He quickly slithered over to Cryptor and smashed the ice with the rock, freeing the nindroid. 

“Get them!” Pythor ordered, pointing at the ninja.

The fusion quickly jumped towards the giant hole in the wall that he had created. 

As they ran through the lab, Jay noticed all the holes in the walls. “He’s definitely a Cole fusion,” he stated, looking at the rubble left everywhere.

“How exactly did you find us?” Kai asked, looking up at the fusion.

“I punched the walls until I found you guys,” the fusion responded. 

Kai continued looking at the fusion, confused. Despite the fact that they have just met this fusion, he never really seemed to show any emotion which felt weird. 

They eventually reached an exit. The fusion turned around and stomped his foot down, creating a stone wall in place of the hole he had created in the wall. He continued running, waiting until they were farther away from the lab to put the others down. They reached a quiet area, so he stopped and set Kai down. Jay jumped off of his back. The two were still relatively weak from energy shocks, but they could at least stand up now.

“That was awesome!” Jay cheered, “You were so cool, uh, what was your name?”

“Uh, yeah, we don’t actually know your name,” Kai agreed.

The fusion looked at them and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What?” Jay questioned, “What do you mean you don’t know? Do you just not have a name?”

“I didn’t think of a name, I was only focussed on saving you guys.”

“Alright then” Jay responded, “Well, what if we called you something like  _ Tech _ tonic? Like, spelled with an H after the first C.”

“Really?” Kai responded with an annoyed tone.

“Sure,” the fusion responded.

“What!?” Jay and Kai both responded, surprised by the fusion’s reaction.

“Yeah, sounds like a cool name. I’ll go with that.”

“Alright, Techtonic,” Kai replied, “Totally a great name.”

“Ok, we should probably head back to the bounty,” Techtonic said, “The others don’t know I came to save you guys, they’re probably gonna come out and look for us.”

“Well, uh, thanks for saving us,” Jay said.

“Yeah,” Techtonic commented, “But I need to unfuse so the others don’t see me.”

Kai and Jay gave each other concerned looks. Before they could say anything else, Techtonic had already begun to unfuse, calmly splitting back into Cole and Zane.

“Hey, nice to see you guys,” Jay greeted.

“You two are fucking idiots,” Cole said angrily. 

Jay and Kai were taken back a little, as they were starting to get used to Techtonic’s monotone personality.

“What were you two thinking? Now Nya knows Fleet exists!” Cole scolded.

“To be fair, she doesn’t know that we’re Fleet,” Kai defended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, sort of an abrupt ending to this chapter, endings are usually pretty hard to write.  
> ANYWAY! The scene where Techtonic shows up the first time is something I've been excited to write for a long time now. I definitely want to make a comic based on this scene. We're starting to get into the bits of the story I've been excited to write, so hopefully I can stay updated for a good while.


	8. Drifting Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lloyd begins to get suspicious of the others, and the ninja try to decide the best way to use their fusions.

“Where were you guys? We were really worried!” Nya asked.

Everyone was back at the bounty. Kai and Jay had plenty of time to think of an excuse for why they were missing, but still struggled to come up with a plausible one.

“Oh, we were, uhh,” Jay began thinking, “We had to go back to the monastery.”

“Uhh, why?” Lloyd questioned.

“Oh, you know,” Jay said, “We just had to grab some things we forgot about.”

“But, you didn’t come back with anything,” Lloyd pointed out.

“Oh, yeah,” Jay started to laugh nervously, “Probably because Kai forgot to grab the stuff.” He nudged Kai on the arm, who in return gave Jay an annoyed look.

“Yeah, guess we should head to the monastery then,” he replied sarcastically.

“Well, we have some time to spare,” Nya stated, “We can head there now if you guys want.”

“Sure,” Jay agreed.

Nya walked over to the steering wheel and turned the bounty towards the monastery. The ninja walked off to the main deck, but Lloyd stayed back and stood next to Nya, watching the others with a concerned look.

“I think Lloyd and Nya are starting to get suspicious,” Zane said.

“Zane’s right, I don’t know how much longer we can keep this a secret,” Jay agreed, “I think we should tell them.”

“But Master Wu said,” Kai argued.

“Master Wu isn’t here,” Jay retorted.

“Jay, it’ll be fine,” Cole assured, “As long as we keep it cool and maybe calm down with all the fusing.”

Kai crossed his arms, “Aw, c’mon Cole! We can’t just stop fusing. It’s been so useful for us so far.”

“I didn’t say to stop fusing,” Cole clarified, “Just, we need to stop fusing all the time. We’ve been relying on it too much.”

“You’re starting to sound like Master Wu,” Jay complained.

“Well Master Wu isn’t here to tell us these things, and Lloyd can’t do it. Someone has to be the responsible one.” Cole argued.

“Cole is right,” Zane said, “We’ve been acting irresponsible with our fusions. Master Wu told us fusion was dangerous, we should probably listen to him.”

“Uh, Master Wu said  _ some  _ fusions are dangerous,” Jay reminded, “All of our fusions have been perfectly safe.”

“They  _ have  _ been safe,” Zane argued, “We still don’t know about our remaining fusions.”

“Zane, you worry too much,” Jay said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Lloyd asked, walking up to the others.

“Uhh,” Jay panicked slightly.

“We were just talking about Corria,” Zane interrupted, “We were discussing what she might be up to.”

“Any reason you guys had to come down here to talk about it?” Lloyd asked.

“We just figured we shouldn’t be distracting Nya while she’s steering the ship,” Kai argued.

“Alright then,” Lloyd responded. He paused for a moment before looking back at the others. “You guys just seem like you’ve been pretty distant from us lately.”

“What?” Kai asked, “Of course we haven’t been distant from you guys.”

Lloyd raised an eyebrow towards the red ninja. “Every since these nindroids showed up, you guys have been acting weird. Cole and Jay sneaking off constantly, Kai and Zane refusing to let anyone see them,”

“Because we don’t want you getting sick,” Kai defended.

“Oh please, I know they don’t really have colds,” Lloyd said, “I didn’t really think much about it at first, but then you and Jay went missing for a bit, then I assume Cole and Zane went to go find you guys because they also left.”

The four ninja all looked at each other nervously. “Lloyd, we’re really sorry,” Zane spoke, “But we just can’t tell you about what’s going on.”

“Why not?” Lloyd asked, “We’re a team, don’t we deserve to know what’s going on?”

“Master Wu told us not to,” Jay explained.

“Master Wu knows about this?” Lloyd questioned.

“Lloyd, it’s for your own good,” Cole assured.

“Alright, whatever,” Lloyd turned away from the others, “I get it, you guys don’t trust me.”

“That’s not it, Lloyd!” Kai argued, “Of course we trust you, Nya too, it’s just… UGH! Why did Master Wu have to make this so difficult for us to explain!?”

The bounty stopped moving. “We’re here!” Nya announced from the control room. 

“Alright, let’s get what we came here for.” Lloyd said. The ninja all climbed out of the bounty and walked through the gates of the monastery.

“It’s nice to be back here,” Nya admitted.

“Yeah, the bounty is nice, but I like being here at the monastery,” Cole agreed.

“Alright, what did you guys need to get?” Nya asked.

“Um, I think we left them inside,” Jay said, “C’mon, Kai.” Kai and Jay both walked inside, leaving the others waiting outside. Jay quickly opened the door again, poking his head out. “Do you guys know if we need more food?” he asked.

“Uh, I think so,” Lloyd responded.

“Ok,” Jay went back inside before coming back almost immediately, “Yeah, we’re low on food.”

“What?” Nya asked.

“It has been a while since we picked up some more food,” Zane pointed out.

“Master Wu usually gets it delivered here,” Cole said.

“Master Wu isn't here, Cole,” Jay reminded, “Guess we need to go out and get some more.”

“Nya and I will go do that,” Lloyd decided.

“What? Why us?” Nya asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lloyd assured, “You guys stay here until we get back.”

“Uh, ok,” Cole responded. Lloyd and Nya walked out to the bounty while the others stayed at the monastery. 

______________________________________________

“That fusion sure did wreck this place,” Morro grumbled as he dragged a large piece of metal across the floor.

“Those ninja are so annoying with their stupid fusions,” Cryptor complained, helping Pythor hold up another piece of metal. They were all helping Corria to repair all the holes Techtonic had left in the lab. 

“You guys complain too much,” Corria said happily, “We got what we needed from that purple fusion, everything is going great!”

Pythor rolled his eyes. “Remind me why I decided to help this crazy lady again?”

“At least you had a choice,” Morro said.

“Corria hasn’t even made you do anything,” Pythor argued, “Cryptor and I have had to fight the ninja multiple times.”

“The only reason she hasn’t made me do anything is because she has to keep doing ‘tests’ on me,” Morro explained.

“That’s right, Morro,” Corria said, “I have to make sure you’re ready before I send you out.”

“For what?” Morro questioned.

“I don’t know yet,” Corria giggled, “But don’t worry about it, everything will make sense eventually.”

“You know, you keep saying that, but I don’t know how true that is,” Morro retorted, “Because so far, nothing you’ve done has made any sense.”

“The key word is eventually,” Corria pointed out.

Morro rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

______________________________________________

“Lloyd, is there a reason you wanted to go get groceries with me?” Nya asked. They were both in the control room, heading towards Ninjago City. 

Lloyd sighed. “I just… I wanted to know if you found out anything else when you were captured by Corria,” he admitted, “The others won’t say anything to me, but they’re definitely hiding something. Just, I mainly wanted to know if there was anything else about that Fleet guy you mentioned.”

Nya was quiet for a moment. “It’s weird. He seemed oddly familiar,” she explained. “I know that I never met him before, but something about him seemed extremely familiar, like I had already met him before.”

“Have you been able to figure out who he reminds you of?” Lloyd asked.

“He had this kusarigama that he seemed to create from nothing,” Nya continued, “He made me turn around before he summoned it. He gave it to me when we escaped, and it disappeared after I escaped. But when it disappeared, it gave of sparks of fire and lightning.”

Lloyd’s eyes widened. “What? How?”

“I don’t know how,” Nya said, “I don’t know how, but I think that Fleet guy had something to do with Kai and Jay disappearing.”

“You don’t think he was the one who captured them, do you?” Lloyd asked, “Like, maybe he temporarily stole their powers?”

Nya shook his head. “He didn’t seem evil,”

Lloyd paused for a moment. “And, you didn’t tell the others about this?”

“No,” Nya admitted, “Cole and Zane definitely know what’s going on, I don’t want them to know I’m suspicious of them.”

“The others told me that there’s something that they can’t tell us,” Lloyd explained, “Something Master Wu told them.”

Nya turned to Lloyd. “What?”

“I don’t know, but it must be something big if it means Master Wu doesn’t want us to know,” Lloyd said.

“Something big…” Nya remembered what Corria had told her. She sighed. “Let’s just go get those groceries.”

______________________________________________

The other four ninja all sat outside, waiting for Lloyd and Nya to get back.

“You know, now that I think about it,” Jay said, “Maybe Master Wu was wrong about fusion.”

“Yeah, I know he said it was dangerous,” Kai added, “but none of our fusions have been unstable.”

“I don’t know,” Zane said, “From what Master Wu told us, I think we should still be a bit more cautious.”

“Zane’s right, we can’t just ignore what Master Wu told us,” Cole added.

“Maybe he was trying to use reverse psychology,” Jay suggested, “Convince us that fusion is dangerous so we would want to do it!”

“You mean like a training exercise?” Zane questioned.

“Zane, you’re a genius!” Jay said, “We should train our fusions!”

“I was not suggesting that,” Zane retorted.

“Yeah, I like that idea,” Kai agreed, “If we get used to our fusions now, it’ll be much easier when we’re in battle.”

“This sounds like a terrible idea,” Cole interjected.

“Oh come on, Cole, this is a great idea!” Jay argued.

“Yeah, Cole, c’mon, let’s fuse!” Kai requested.

“Why me?” Cole asked.

“Because I’ve already fused with Zane and Jay,” Kai answered.

“Yeah, you guys should totally fuse!” Jay agreed, “It’ll be fine, Cole. Fleet and Swift are both really stable fusions, Ridge and Techtonic are both really stable too,” he explained, “And you guys can just unfuse when Lloyd and Nya get back. Plus, you guys would probably look really hot.”

“Ok, fine, I’ll do it,” Cole accepted reluctantly.

“I still think this is a bad idea,” Zane argued, but the others didn’t listen like usual. 

Jay and Zane watched as Cole and Kai got ready to fuse. Jay turned to Zane. “Hey, Zane, you wanna fuse too?”

“It’s best not to have two unknown fusions at once,” Zane declined.

“Oh c’mon, Zane, it won’t be that bad,” Jay assured.

Cole and Kai both began stretching as they got ready to dance.  _ Why am I doing this?  _ Cole asked himself. The two ninja began to dance while Jay and Zane watched from the side. Jay’s eyes were focussed on Cole, his face turning slightly red as he watched the black ninja dance. 

“You are getting way too much into this,” Zane commented.

“Maybe a little bit,” Jay admitted.

Kai and Cole grabbed each other’s hands. Kai gave Cole a small wink, Cole smiling back. He was starting to get more into the dance. He spun Kai around before the two of them put their backs together. They began to glow and started fusing together. Zane watched as the two fused with a concerned look while Jay was in complete awe.

The two formed their fusion. His gi was a dark red with orange accents, the sleeves were ripped off revealing his scarred, muscular arms. His hair was dark brown and messy, the top of it was spiked slightly. He started to laugh. “Alright!” he yelled, “Vulcan is here!”

“I was right, he is hot,” Jay commented, his face more red than before.

“Jay!” Zane yelled.

Vulcan looked at his hands as they were surrounded with bits of earth and fire. A battle axe formed in his hands, causing tiny flames and rocks to fly off of it.

“Woah! You have a cool battle axe!?” Jay commented.

“Heh, you like what you see?” Vulcan asked.

“Yes!” Jay cheered.

“No,” Zane disagreed, still clearly uneasy about Kai and Cole fusing.

“What do you mean no? Look at him!” Jay argued.

Before Zane could respond, Vulcan’s axe came smacking right in front of the nindroid, causing him to jump back a bit.

“Whoops, almost hit the tin can,” Vulcan said insincerely. 

“I am made of titanium!” Zane argued defensively. 

“Does it look like I care?” Vulcan asked.

“Ok guys, calm down,” Jay tried to stop the arguing.

“Pfft. The tin can started it,” Vulcan defended, resting his axe on his shoulder.

“Why do you keep calling him ‘tin can’?” Jay asked, but Vulcan didn’t respond.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Zane said, “You need to unfuse now.”

Vulcan ignored Zane’s demand and shot a large boulder at the nindroid, sending him flying towards the wall.

“Vulcan!” Jay yelled.

“What? The whole point of this was to train,” Vulcan argued.

“Not by attacking Zane!” Jay scolded.

“Alright, fine, I won’t attack him,” Vulcan got rid of his axe as it faded away, leaving small bits of fire and earth.

“Thank you,” Jay replied.

“I’ll just attack you instead,” Vulcan decided.

“Wait what?” Before Jay could say anything Vulcan tried to punch Jay, his fist covered in fire. Jay quickly jumped back, avoiding the punch.

“I’m starting to see what Master Wu meant now,” Jay realized.

“You don’t say,” Zane replied, still laying up against the wall.

“Alright, you two need to unfuse right now!” Jay ordered.

Vulcan chuckled. “Oh c’mon, the fun’s just getting started!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've almost seen all of the fusions with the main 4! Vulcan is a fusion that I've been really excited to write, so I'm happy that he finally showed up. The next chapters will hopefully be easier for me to write, because I've had this part planned out for a long time now.


	9. Clash at the Monastery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Vulcan refuses to unfuse and starts wrecking everything, it's up to Jay and Zane to try and stop him.

“Watch out!” Jay yelled as a rock went flying towards Zane. Zane quickly jumped out of the way, the rock shattering to pieces as it hit the wall.

“Jay, follow me!” Zane ordered. The nindroid jumped onto the roof of the monastery with Jay following close behind.

“Where are you guys going?” Vulcan asked, “You too scared to fight me?”

Zane and Jay ran to the other side of the roof and jumped down, hiding behind a wall. Jay was trying to catch his breath from all the running and dodging. 

“We really messed up, Zane,” Jay said, trying not to start panicking.

“Correction, YOU guys messed up,” Zane stated, “I was trying to stop this from happening.”

“Ok, I get it, Zane, we should’ve listened to you,” Jay responded, “Why do we never listen to you!?”

Zane tried to zone out Jay as he began to start ranting, trying to listen for Vulcan. He heard a loud CRASH.

“C’mon, where'd you guys go?” Vulcan asked angrily, “I’m starting to get annoyed.”

“And now their on a rampage and are probably gonna try to kill us!” Jay continued to ramble.

“Shh,” Zane ordered, covering up Jay’s mouth with his hand. “Vulcan’s getting closer,” he whispered, “We need to find another place to hide.”

“Hide? What good is that gonna do?” Jay questioned, “Hiding isn’t going to stop Vulcan from wrecking everything until he finds us!”

“It’s better than getting beat up and having no way to stop him,” Zane argued, “Now c’mon!” He grabbed Jay’s arm and ran down the hill until they got to a lower ledge on the side of the mountain. 

“I don’t get it,” Jay said, “Why is Vulcan so unstable when all our other fusions were perfectly fine?”

“Master Wu told us, even if you have a close relationship with someone, you can still be dangerous together,” Zane reminded, “Cole’s tough attitude and Kai’s anger problems are definitely a dangerous combo.”

“So, theoretically speaking, what would  _ our  _ fusion be like?” Jay asked.

Zane turned to Jay. “Are you crazy? We can’t fuse, not when we have Vulcan causing all these problems.”

“Zane, what other choice do we have?” Jay asked, “Wait until Lloyd and Nya get back and ask them to help us fight this mysterious guy who showed up, also having to explain why Kai and Cole aren’t here?”

Zane started to think. “With both of our mental states combined, there’s no telling what would happen.”

“Are there any  _ good  _ aspects that could happen?”

“It is possible we could have higher brain power, we would definitely have high mechanical abilities,”

“Zane, we’re fighting another fusion, not fixing a car,” Jay interrupted.

“There’s too much information to process,” Zane said, “Even with all these high possibilities, there is an infinite number of combinations for how our personalities would mix.”

“Then I guess the only way to find out is by fusing,” Jay said. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Zane quickly made a platform of ice so they wouldn’t fall off. “Zane, we don’t have any time!”

Zane looked back at Jay and sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

“How hard can it be to find them!?” Vulcan yelled, “This place isn’t even that big!” Frustrated, he punched a nearby tree, causing it to fall over and down the mountain.

“Hey, you big bully!” a voice spoke.

Vulcan quickly turned around, not being able to recognize the voice. He saw a ninja wearing a pale blue gi. His hair looked very fluffy and he had an undercut. His hair was both brown and white. He had big, blue eyes and markings on his cheeks that seemed to resemble some sort of circuitry.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Vulcan asked, rudely.

“My name is Chip,” the fusion responded, “And I’m here to stop you!”

Vulcan paused for a moment before laughing. “You really think you can beat me? A pipsqueak like you is easy game for me.” He cracked his knuckles in order to intimidate the smaller fusion.

“I am not a pipsqueak!” Chip defended, “Just because you’re bigger, and physically stronger, and have more experience as a fusion than me, and, ok, I know you can easily squash me, BUT the point is, I believe in myself!”

“Cute,” Vulcan retorted, “But I’m done talking. Let’s get to fighting!” Without hesitation, Vulcan ran at Chip. He threw a fiery punch, but Chip quickly jumped out of the way. Vulcan continued to try and punch Chip, but Chip continued to jump away from each punch. Chip jumped up to the wall of the monastery.

“Ok, let’s see what we’re working with,” Chip held out his hand and began summoning his weapon. A slingshot appeared in his hand. “Huh, interesting.” Before he could do anything else, Vulcan chucked a large rock at Chip, sending him flying back into the training area. He hit the ground, small sparks flying off his body and he landed. Vulcan jumped over the wall, landing on the other side and causing the ground to shake slightly. 

Chip quickly jumped back up, surprisingly not very hurt from Vulcan’s attack. He grabbed his slingshot and started to pull it back, and ball of ice appearing as ammo. He let go, sending the ball flying towards Vulcan who shot it with fire, causing it to evaporate completely.

“Is that all you got?” But before Vulcan could do anything else, he was suddenly bombarded with more ice balls. He started to dodge them, but one hit his arm and sent a large shock through his body. “Hey!”

“Thought it was just ice, huh?” Chip teased as he continued to shoot ice balls at inhuman speeds. The ice balls seemed to be doing a good job at keeping Vulcan back, until he unleashed a large blast of fire. Chip quickly surrounded himself with ice to protect against the blast. He succeeded, being unhurt, but the air was now filled with steam. Chip looked up and saw Vulcan giving him a smirk before running at him again. Chip quickly jumped out of the way, causing Vulcan to get very frustrated.

“Would you STOP JUMPING AROUND!?” Vulcan yelled.

“I’m pretty sure if I did that, I would get hurt so,” Chip was cut off by another punch he had to dodge. 

“Who knew a pipsqueak like you would be so annoying?” Vulcan grunted.

“Would you stop calling me pipsqueak?” Chip demanded, “My name is Chip! C-H-I-P, Chip!”

“Pfft, alright,” Vulcan rolled his eyes.

“Thank you,”  
“Chipsqueak,”

“NO!” Chip yelled. He attempted to shoot Vulcan with lightning, but he blocked it with a wall of earth. Chip quickly jumped over the wall, another ice ball loaded in his slingshot. He shot it at Vulcan while still airborne, sending another jolt of electricity through Vulcan’s body, catching him off guard. As Chip landed on the ground, he created a path of ice with his foot heading for Vulcan. As soon as the ice touched Vulcan, he got surrounded in ice, trapping him.

Chip let out a little laugh. “I did it!” he cheered, “I did it, I did it!” 

Vulcan glared at the other fusion. Smoke started to come off of his body. Chip looked at Vulcan and froze. Almost as fast as he had been trapped, Vulcan surrounded his body in fire, completely destroying the ice around him.

“Oh right, fire powers,” Chip remembered, “Oops.”

Vulcan launched a rock out of the ground, sending Chip flying at the wall. “I gotta admit, pipsqueak, you put up a pretty good fight,” Vulcan taunted as he walked up to Chip who was lying on the ground. Chip tried to shoot a beam of ice at Vulcan, but he quickly dismissed his with a blast of fire. Chip then tried a blast of lightning, but Vulcan blocked that with the earth. Vulcan leaned down to meet Chip eye to eye. “Did you really think someone like  _ you  _ could last forever against  _ me? _ ”

“I can… still fight you!” Chip insisted.

“Sure you can,” Vulcan stood up again, grabbing Chip by his shirt and holding him up. “You’ve been really annoying to deal with,” Vulcan continued, “But at least that’ll make this all the more satisfying.” He raised his other fist which was covered in both fire and earth.

“Hey, Vulcan,” Chip said, “You should really stop underestimating me,” Chip placed his hand on the arm Vulcan was holding him with and sent a massive jolt of electricity at Vulcan. Vulcan dropped Chip who quickly ran away from the wall to get away while Vulcan was incapacitated. 

_ I had to use a lot of power for that,  _ Chip thought,  _ But it buys me time to think of a plan.  _ Chip looked around at his surroundings. He noticed all the debris left around throughout the monastery. 

“Get, ZZT, back, ZZT here!” Vulcan yelled as the shocks began to start fading. Vulcan summoned his battle axe and started running towards Chip at the other side of the monastery. Chip quickly pulled up his slingshot and began aiming. He shot it at Vulcan who simply sliced it in half with his axe. He went to attack Chip with his axe, but he ducked out of the way, causing it to get stuck in the ground. 

“What’s the point of dodging if you can’t even land a big hit on me?” Vulcan yelled.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to say that,” Chip said, pointing away. Confused, Vulcan looked and saw that the two halves of the ice ball he sliced were still moving through the air. They both bounced off the walls a bunch before hitting the statue in the middle of the monastery and bouncing towards the top of the wall near Vulcan. Two large boulders from earlier sat there, right above Vulcan. The two ice ball halves hit the boulders. Due to being on unstable territory, they teetered for a bit before falling on top of Vulcan. A dust cloud formed as the bounders fell. Chip clapped his hands together before walking away. 

“That takes care of that,” Chip said happily. Suddenly, he heard a rumbling noise. He turned back and saw the boulders begin to shake before bursting apart, sending smaller bits of rock flying everywhere. Chip put his arm over his face to protect it from all the rocks. He looked back and saw that Vulcan was, in fact, still fused.

“RAGH!” Vulcan yelled. He looked at Chip with a face of pure fury. 

“Oh, you survived,” Chip said nervously. Before he could react, Vulcan launched a giant fireball at him. Chip was sent flying at the statue. He could feel himself begin to get shaky.

_ No, don’t fall apart now!  _ He pleaded,  _ Just stay a little longer… _

Vulcan ran up and punched Chip straight in the gut. He picked him up and threw him at the statue repeatedly. Multiple sparks of electricity flew off of Chip’s body with every slam against the statue. Finally, Vulcan threw him to the ground. Chip started coughing as he tried to get back up, but his arms were too shaky to lift him up.

“I’m through with you,” Vulcan grunted, “You’re clearly just weak, you just refuse to accept it.”

Chip looked up at Vulcan, attempting to find the strength within him to keep fighting, but there was none left.

“You can’t stop me from being me, so just give it up already,” Vulcan continued, “You’ll never be strong enough to change that.”

Chip’s head fell down next to his arms. He struggling to stay together, but kept holding on. Vulcan just stared down at Chip. 

“Hmph. See ya,” Vulcan began walking away.

“Wh-where are you going?” Chip managed to speak.

Vulcan stopped and looked back at Chip, giving him a smirk. “I’m off to find some better targets to fight.” He opened the doors of the monastery and slammed them shut behind him. 

Chip watched in silence until finally the pain became too much for him. He started crying as his body slowly turned to light. He separated back into Jay and Zane, who were both laying on the ground, badly injured. Jay gave out a cough while Zane slowly stood up. He reached out an arm and helped Jay up. They both looked over to the doors, their faces filled with fear.

“What are we gonna do?” Jay asked.

Zane shook his head. “I… I don’t know.” 

Jay sighed. “Great. This is just great.” He walked over to the stairs leading inside and sat down. “This is all my fault.”

Zane walked over and joined the blue ninja. “No Jay, you’re only partially to blame,” Zane assured, “Sure, you were the one who came up with the idea and pressured Cole into fusing with Kai,”

“Gee, thanks Zane,” Jay responded sarcastically.

“Kai and Cole are still the ones who went through with it,” Zane finished, “We did our best to fix this mistake.”

“Well now, ‘this mistake’, is going to Ninjago City to fight people, and we’re too beat up to stop him!” Jay complained, “What if there isn’t a way to beat Vulcan? What if we never see Cole or Kai again?”

Zane started to think. “He must have some weakness,” Zane insisted.

“Well, clearly he doesn’t,” Jay responded, “He’s really strong and even with Chip’s smarts, we still couldn’t beat him!”

“Wait a minute,” Zane said, “Fusions combine common traits of their components and amplify them.”

“What are you saying?” Jay questioned.

“Think about it, Jay,” Zane said, “Ever since being a ghost, Cole has developed a fear of water, even after being human again, and Kai has always been terrified of water.”

“Zane, that’s it!” Jay realized, “Vulcan must be terrified of water!”

Zane and Jay both looked at each other and spoke, “We need Nya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was basically just one big fight scene, and I'm usually terrible at writing fight scenes, but I think I did a pretty good job with this one. We've finally been able to see all the fusions of the main 4, so that's really nice. I honestly love Vulcan as a character, and writing him here really makes me appreciate him even more, same with Chip. But I'm gonna stop rambling now before I make this way too long than it needs to be.  
> One quick side note: It's just one of my personal headcanons that Cole is at least somewhat scared of water, because you cannot tell me that after being a ghost and knowing that if you touch water you will die, that he didn't develop any fear of water


	10. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lloyd and Nya return, they instantly have to go out again to try and stop Vulcan. But what will happen if they beat him?

“They should be getting back any minute now,” Zane stated. Him and Jay were still at the monastery, waiting for Nya and Lloyd to return. Zane had called them, telling them they needed to come back as soon as they could. 

“Hold on, Zane,” Jay said, “What if Nya can’t stop him? We barely did any damage when we were fused!”

“If my theory is correct, all Nya has to do is get him near some water, which should be enough to scare him into unfusing,” Zane explained.

“Ok, but how could someone be THAT scared of water?” Jay asked.

Before Zane could answer, they heard the bounty arrive. Nya and Lloyd rushed through the monastery’s gate. “We got here as soon as we could,” Nya informed. She paused as she saw all the destruction around them. She looked over at Zane and Jay, both still sitting down with visible injuries all over their bodies.

“What happened here?” Lloyd asked.

“We don’t have much time to explain,” Zane said, “But we had a fight with someone, and we weren’t able to defeat him. We need your help, Nya.”

“Why me?” Nya asked, “And where are Cole and Kai?”

“Cole and Kai aren’t here right now!” Jay replied in a panic.

“Uh, yes Jay, I see that,” Nya responded, “What happened to them?”

“No time to explain that, either,” Zane continued, “We just need your help to beat this person.”

“Alright, then,” Nya said, “What are we waiting for? Let’s get to Ninjago City and find this guy.”

They all walked to the bounty and climbed in. Nya quickly started the thrusters and headed for Ninjago City.

“This guy must have beat you guys pretty bad, huh,” Lloyd commented, “Is he working for Corria?”

“Uhh…” Jay looked to Zane nervously.

“We don’t know,” Zane lied, “But we need to stop him before he hurts other people.”

“So, you guys don’t know what happened to Cole or Kai?” Lloyd asked.

Jay and Zane both looked at each other, both unsure how to answer.

“I’ll take that as a no…” Lloyd said.

“You know what, we should probably be looking out for Vulcan,” Jay decided.

“Is that his name?” Lloyd asked.

“Yes, his name is Vulcan,” Zane confirmed.

“Interesting…” Lloyd said, “What does he look like?”

“You’ll know when we find him,” Jay responded, looking over the edge of the bounty. He heard a loud CRASH sound as the ground shook a bit. A large rock went flying by the bounty. “I think he’s nearby,” Jay commented.

“Better drop the anchor here, then,” Nya decided. She stopped the bounty and lowered the anchor to the ground. Jay and Zane both climbed down first, Nya and Lloyd following behind. 

As they reached the bottom, Zane noticed a nindroid laying on the ground completely destroyed. “Well, looks like he luckily hasn’t fought any citizens,” he said, relieved.

“Any idea where he went?” Nya asked.

“I assume he went down the path of complete destruction,” Jay replied, pointing to a trail of fire and torn up ground.

“What kind of powers does this guy have?” Nya asked.

“Oh, you know, strong ones,” Jay laughed nervously.

“Uh huh,” Nya responded.

“Alright guys, c’mon!” Lloyd ordered. The ninja all ran down the trail, Nya using her powers to put out all the fire. Jay and Zane both looked around with worried looks as they saw all the damage done to the nearby buildings. They eventually reached an open area. As the ninja walked into the opening, a nindroid flew straight into a nearby wall, falling on the ground, destroyed on impact.

“Too easy!” Vulcan was standing in the middle of the opening. He looked over at the other ninja. “You guys again?” he asked, “And I see you brought Lloyd and Nya.”

“How do you know our names!?” Lloyd demanded.

“To be fair, we  _ are  _ kinda famous,” Jay pointed out.

“Good point,” Lloyd agreed, “But that’s not important. What do you want?”

“Right now,” Vulcan cracked his knuckles, “I’m just looking for a good fight.”

“Ok, how exactly am I supposed to fight him?” Nya questioned, “You saw what he did to that nindroid!”

“Don’t worry, Nya,” Zane assured, “You can do it.”

Nya sighed before walking up to the dark red ninja. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Vulcan stared down at Nya before stomping the ground, sending a large stone out. Shocked, Nya quickly covered her face, but to her disbelief, the attack missed her, hitting a nearby building instead. Nya looked back at Vulcan with confusion. “You missed me.”

“Are you kidding me?” Vulcan asked, “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“WHAT!?” Jay yelled from off to the side, “You won’t attack her, but you’re perfectly fine attacking us!?”

“It’s Nya,” Vulcan explained, “I’m not gonna fight Nya.”

“Why not?” Nya asked, a slight edge to her tone.

“Because you’re Nya,” Vulcan replied, “I’m just not gonna fight you.”

“Oh, because you think I’m too weak to fight back?” Nya asked angrily.

“What? No, I know you’re strong!” Vulcan defended. Before he could say anything else, Nya had already pulled out her weapon and smacked Vulcan with it, catching him off guard a bit. “Hey! What was that for!?” he yelled.

“For not taking me seriously!” Nya yelled back.

“What?” Vulcan gave an annoyed sigh, “Fine, but don’t get upset when I beat you!” Vulcan summoned his battle axe, bits of fire and earth flying off of it as it appeared.

“What the-” Nya gasped.  _ It’s just like that Fleet guy…  _ Vulcan swung his axe at Nya, but she quickly jumped out of the way. She created a ball of water in one of her hands and launched it at Vulcan. Vulcan froze before jumping back as the water splashed in front of him. He stepped back as it started to spread closer to him. 

“AHH!” Vulcan yelled before launching a ball of fire at the small puddle, causing it to instantly evaporate.

Nya blinked, surprised by Vulcan’s reaction to her attack. “So, you’re scared of water, huh?”

“N-no!” Vulcan defended, “I just don’t want to get wet!”

“Zane, you were right!” Jay whispered, “He’s terrified!” The others watched as Vulcan started to shake slightly.

“Er, it’s nothing!” Vulcan insisted, holding up his axe, “Let’s just get back to fighting!”

Nya quickly launched another ball of water towards Vulcan who screamed before hiding his face behind the blade of his axe. The water splashed on his blade. Vulcan quickly got rid of his axe, throwing it to the side before it poofed away. 

“Is that all you got?” Vulcan asked, trying not to sound scared.

“Nope,” Nya responded. She quickly started launching many water balls at Vulcan, causing him to dodge them all in a panic. Nya had to stop after a while to rest. Vulcan was hiding his face, but peeked when he noticed the water had stopped. He suddenly noticed he was completely surrounded by multiple puddles of water. 

“WHAAH!” Vulcan screamed. He felt his body get very shaky. “No! No, hold on!” he pleaded with himself. “I can’t fall apart now!”

“What’s happening to him?” Lloyd asked.

_ He must be trying to unfuse…  _ Zane thought. “Nya! You need more water!” Zane ordered.

“I see where you’re going with this!” Nya replied. She turned to her side and noticed a fire hydrant. She focussed her power. The fire hydrant started to shake, getting more and more violent until it flew off, releasing a massive stream of water. She circled it around for a bit in the air, keeping it sitting still. Vulcan looked up at the massive pool of water, his eyes wide with fear. Nya smirked before sending the stream right towards Vulcan. Vulcan gave one last scream before the water hit him, sending him flying at the wall. The entire area became flooded for a bit, the other ninja floating to the top to catch their breath as the water began to drain.

“Think you went a little too far?” Lloyd asked.

“Maybe a bit,” Nya admitted, “But that jerk deserved it for messing with Jay and Zane.” The water drained, leaving the ninja standing there.

“Where’d he go?” Lloyd asked, looking around.

Jay heard a coughing noise and turned to see Kai and Cole laying on the ground over by the wall. “Kai! Cole!” Jay ran over to the others.

“Ugh, guess we went a little overboard, huh?” Kai groaned.

“Yeah, WHAH!” Cole said before Jay trapped him in a tight hug.

“We were scared we lost you guys!” Jay said, tears starting to run down his face.

“We’re happy to be back, Jay,” Cole said,” But please let me go, my whole body hurts really bad.”

“Oh, sorry,” Jay apologized, releasing the black ninja.

Kai rubbed his shoulder. “Guess being fused like that really made our bodies sore, huh?”

“Ok, what the heck is going on?” Lloyd asked as he and the others walked over to Cole and Kai.

“Oh, yeah,” Kai rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, “Uh, why don’t we head back to the monastery first.”

The all arrived back to the monastery. The four ninja all sat down to rest while Lloyd and Nya stood in front of them. 

“Alright, you guys REALLY need to explain some things.” Nya demanded.

The others all looked at each other and sighed. “We, uh, we can fuse…” Cole admitted.

“Fuse?” Lloyd questioned, “Like, fuse together?”

“Yeah,” Jay answered, “Vulcan was a fusion of Cole and Kai. Zane and I had to fuse to try and beat him, which is how the monastery got so messy.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, guys,” Kai apologized. 

“So, I’ll take it Fleet was Kai and Jay’s fusion?” Nya guessed.

“How could you tell?” Jay asked.

“Well, it’s pretty obvious now,” Nya said, “I kinda feel stupid for not realizing sooner.”

“So, how many of your fusions have you guys formed?” Lloyd asked.

They all looked at each other and then back at Lloyd. “Um… all of them,” Jay admitted.

“Wow,” Lloyd responded, surprised, “We REALLY missed a lot, didn’t we?”

“We’re really sorry guys,” Jay apologized, “Master Wu didn’t want you to know because he told us fusion was really dangerous, and we didn’t believe him because all of our fusions were really stable, and then Vulcan happened, and then-”

“Ok, we get it,” Lloyd interrupted, “I’m sorry for being so angry with you guys. You were just following Master Wu’s orders.”

“I mean, he also ordered us not to fuse,” Kai said, “but we- OW!” Zane punched him on the arm. “Watch it! My arm is still sore from being fused!”

“My entire body is sore from being thrown at multiple walls,” Zane retorted.

“We already apologized!” Kai defended.

Zane sighed. “It’s nice to have you back,” he said. 

“Ok, back to this fusion thing,” Nya interrupted, “What all do you guys know about it?”

“Fusion is something that only elemental masters can do. Fusions take aspects of their components to create an entirely new person which can either be stable, or unstable,” Zane explained, “We now know what an unstable fusion is like, but stable fusions have much easier times unfusing when they need to. Fusions also are able to use the elements that their components have and have a fusion weapon that they can summon from nowhere.”

“Yeah, those are pretty much the basics,” Cole agreed, “Whenever we fuse, we still exist as individuals, but we also disappear in a way. Like with Ridge,”

“Ridge?” Nya questioned.

“That’s me and Cole’s fusion,” Jay explained.

“Whenever we form Ridge, we sort of forget that we exist, but we don’t at the same time,” Cole continued, “It’s really confusing to explain…”

“Well why don’t we just try it out?” Nya suggested.

“NO!” The four ninja all yelled. Lloyd and Nya were both taken back a bit.

“Uh, it’s just,” Zane said, “We just got done dealing with Vulcan. We don’t want to risk another unstable fusion existing while we’re all still weak from fighting.”

“Oh, ok,” Nya said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

“Plus, we need to put more focus on Corria,” Cole added, “She’s been pretty quiet lately, except for a small number of nindroids wandering the city.”

“Right,” Nya said, “We should probably rest first, though,” The ninja all looked at the sky and noticed it was beginning to get dark. They decided to rest to make sure they would be ready to defeat Corria.

______________________________________________

“Did the nindroids find anything?” Corria asked. Cryptor was monitoring the computers, keeping track of each nindroid they had sent out.

“Most of them got destroyed,” Cryptor explained, “But one of them did find the place you were looking for.”

“Ooh! Let me see!” Corria looked at the monitor excitedly. The video showed what seemed to be an abandoned factory. “Yes, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I need to go finish taking my notes on this,” Corria left the room, leaving Cryptor to continue looking at the computer.

“Quick question,” Morro’s voice interrupted Cryptor’s concentration, “Why exactly are you working for Corria?” Cryptor turned to Morro, but silently went back to his work. “I get why Pythor’s working for her. She promised her he could beat the ninja by working with her. I’m being forced against my will to help her, but what’s your reasoning?”

“She rebuilt me,” Cryptor answered, “And besides, I was originally built by the Overlord. My entire life, I’ve only known evil. I was built to destroy the ninja. That is my purpose, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“I always thought my purpose was to be the Green Ninja,” Morro responded, “Sometimes what we think we’re supposed to do, isn’t really what we should do.” Cryptor stayed silent as he continued to type something on the computer. “It’s just something to think about,” Morro said before disappearing through the wall.

Cryptor looked back at the wall for a moment before giving an annoyed sigh and continuing his work.

Corria walked back into the room. “Where’s Morro?” she asked.

“Other room,” Cryptor answered, not looking away from the computer.

Corria walked into the other room where Morro was sitting. “Good news, Morro,” she announced, “I’ve got a job for you!”

“Oh, really?” Morro asked unenthusiastically.

“I need you to infiltrate this old factory and look for pieces that look like this,” she held up a picture of thick, metal rings with a weird pattern in them. “They’re really hard to come by because they stopped being made for how expensive they were to make. If my research is correct, there should still be some left in that factory.”

“So, I just go in, find these ring things, and bring them back to you?” Morro questioned.

“It’s as easy as that!” Corria confirmed.

“Alright then, guess I don’t really have any other choice.” Morro sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooof the pacing in this chapter is really bad.....   
> Hopefully the future chapters will be better, I kinda have a better idea for how they're gonna play out. This one, I didn't really have an exact idea, just "oh, Nya needs to beat Vulcan so he unfuses and they finally tell Lloyd and Nya about fusion," I just didn't really know the best way to get to that point... but eh, at least Nya got to destroy Vulcan in a fight.


	11. Turn of Events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After discovering a strange signal near an abandoned factory, the ninja need to go investigate while Lloyd and Nya go to fight nindroids in the city.

The ninja were all aboard the bounty. They were keeping a close eye on what was happening throughout Ninjago City in case Corria sent out any nindroids. 

“It’s weird, why has she been so quiet?” Cole questioned.

“Maybe we destroyed too many of her nindroids,” Kai suggested with a confident tone.

“That seems unlikely,” Zane interrupted, “Corria has been building new nindroids at too quick of a rate, and I highly doubt she would simply stop building them for no reason.”

“She’s definitely plotting something,” Nya agreed. There was a beeping sound coming from the main computer. The ninja all ran over to it to see what was going on. “Nindroids spotted in Ninjago City!” Nya announced.

“Wait, what’s that?” Lloyd pointed out a strange symbol on the monitor.

“Strange, I don’t recognize it,” Nya said. She started typing some things on the computer to try and figure out what was going on. “It looks like something’s going on at the abandoned factory, but I can’t figure out what.”

“What are we gonna do?” Jay asked, “We can’t go to both places at once!”

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Lloyd said, “Nya and I will go fight the nindroids. There isn’t that many, so we should be fine. You guys go find out what’s going on at the factory.”

“Are you sure?” Cole asked, “You guys might need some backup.”

“If we do, we’ll call,” Nya assured, “And if there isn’t actually anything going on at the factory, you guys can let us know and come help us.”

“Alright, sounds like a plan then,” Kai responded, “C’mon guys.”

The ninja split up, heading to their locations. The ninja arrived at the abandoned factory. The whole building gave off an ominous vibe as the ninja entered.

“Wh-who knew it would be so cr-creepy here?” Jay commented. He was huddled close to

Cole, holding his arm for comfort.

“I mean, it is an abandoned factory,” Kai replied, “Who knows, maybe we’ll run into a ghost or something.” 

“Wha- Kai!” Jay yelled, “Don’t joke like that! I REALLY don’t want to deal with anymore ghosts!”

As the ninja continued walking, they felt a gentle breeze go by.

“Uhh, Zane? Is there normally wind inside abandoned factories?” Jay asked nervously.

“No,” Zane answered, “It is very abnormal for wind to exist in any form of building

like this.”

“Maybe this building isn’t as normal as you think,” an ominous voice spoke.

“WHAH!” Jay jumped back, “Wh-who’s there!?”

“I gotta say, I never thought I’d be seeing you guys again,” the voice continued.

“Wait a minute, I recognize that voice,” Kai realized, “Morro!”

“Oh no, you got me,” Morro responded sarcastically as he appeared in front of the ninja.

“Morro, what are you doing here? How are you even here in the first place?” Kai

questioned.

“Look, if I were you guys, I wouldn’t get involved with any of this,” Morro advised,  

“Better turn back now before someone gets hurt.”

Before the ninja could do anything else, Morro disappeared through the wall behind him. The ninja ran over and noticed a door nearby and tried to open it, but it was locked.

“Hold on, Cole, can’t you just punch through the wall?” Kai suggested.

“Good idea,” Cole responded, punching his arms together to activate his lava arms.

“No!” Zane interrupted, “We don’t know how stable this building is. Punching through any wall could cause the entire building to collapse on us.”

“Alright then,” Cole sighed, the lava on his arms fading away. 

“How are we gonna follow Morro then?” Jay questioned.

Zane began looking around the room for anything that could help. He then noticed an air vent above them. “There! An air vent we can crawl through!”

“Cool, let’s go,” Kai said, getting ready to jump up to the air vent.

“Not so fast, Kai,” Zane stopped him, “We can’t all go. If all four of us try to go, the entire vent could fall. We can only send in one person.”

“Then I’ll go,” Cole offered, “I used to be a ghost, so I know how they work. I’ll be the best option for fighting Morro.”

“Cole, you can’t go by yourself!” Jay insisted, “I’m going with you.”

“Jay, Zane just said only one person could go,” Cole reminded.

“That’s why we’ll go as one person,” Jay said, holding out his hand. Cole stared down at Jay’s hand. He smiled and grabbed it, the two of them turning to light and fusing together.

“Alright, guys, I’ll be back,” Ridge said after he formed.

“Ridge, are you sure about this?” Zane asked, “Perhaps Techtonic would be a better option, he might be better for navigating an area like this.”

“Don’t worry, Zane, I can do this,” Ridge insisted.

Kai started thinking. “What if we-”

“We are NOT sending in Vulcan!” Ridge and Zane both interrupted Kai before he could finish.

“Psh, I wasn’t gonna say that…” Kai insisted.

“Look, I know what I’m doing,” Ridge assured, “I know how to fight, I have the most experience as a fusion, everything will be fine.”

“Ok,” Zane sighed, “Just make sure to call if you need any help.”

“You got it,” Ridge responded, giving a thumbs up. He summoned his flail and threw it up to the vent, using it like a grappling hook. He climbed up into the vent, which was a little smaller than he expected. “Maybe it’s a good thing I went,” Ridge said, “I don’t think Techtonic or Vulcan would’ve fit in here.” He climbed through the vent, multiple creaky noises sounded as he moved. Ridge sighed. “It’s ok, it’s not going to break,” he assured. Ridge arrived at a grate. He looked through and saw an open room. “This must the room Morro went to.” Ridge kicked the grate down, a loud CLANG sound happened when it hit the ground. Ridge dropped out of the air vent, landing on the ground next to the grate. 

“Alright, Morro, where’d you go?” Ridge asked, “He’s a ghost, so he could be anywhere. Luckily, I used to be a ghost. Or… at least half of me was.” Ridge paused. “This whole fusion this really is confusing.”

“Do you always talk to yourself like this?” Morro’s voice spoke, causing Ridge to turn around.

“Morro! Show yourself!” Ridge demanded.

“I’ll never understand you fusions,” Morro continued, “To be honest, I don’t care about fusion.”

“That’s exactly what Pythor said,” Ridge said, “Are you working for him?”

“You mean that snake guy?”

“Morro, why are you doing this? I thought you were on our side.”

“I was,” Morro admitted, “But things change.” 

Morro appeared behind Ridge, pulling out a sword. Ridge quickly turned around, summoning his flail. He quickly wrapped it around Morro’s sword before he could attack. He yanked the handle of his flail, pulling Morro’s sword out of his hand and sending it flying off to the side.

“Nice shot, but I’ve got more than just a sword,” Morro held out his arms, wind surrounding them.

“Oh right… I forgot,” Ridge responded.

Morro shot a blast of wind at the fusion, sending him flying at the wall. Cracks formed on the wall as Ridge’s body was slammed against it He quickly retaliated by sending a lightning blast at Morro. He jumped out of the, but was quickly taken off guard by a large rock hitting Morro from behind, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Ha! You may have one strong element, but I have two elements!” Ridge taunted, “Wait a minute, how did that even hit you? You’re a ghost, why didn’t you phase through it?”

Instead of responding, Morro sent another blast of wind at the fusion. Ridge was sent flying at the wall again, even harder this time. He landed on the ground and started to get up, but Morro quickly shot more wind at him, sending him to the other side of the room. He lay on the ground for a bit, coughing as he tried to get up. Morro shot another blast of wind, keeping the fusion on the ground. Ridge once again tried to stand up, but simply sat on the ground, holding himself up with his arms. Morro grabbed his sword as he walked up to the fusion. 

“You’re weak,” Morro said as he approached Ridge, “Fusing, needing to rely on someone else’s strength, I don’t want anything to do with that.”

“You’re wrong,” Ridge argued, his voice weak. He had a big bruise on his cheek and there was a small tear in one of his sleeves. “I-I am strong. I… I have to b strong. I have to stay strong.”

“Well, looks like you failed at that,” Morro said.

Ridge turned to the ghost, small tears forming in his eyes. 

“Look, if I were you, I wouldn’t stick around,” Morro advised, “It’d be best for you not to get involved.” Morro quickly turned away from Ridge and disappeared as he continued through the building.

Ridge sat alone in silence. He took a deep breath to try and calm down, but his breaths soon became more and more panicked. The small tears in his eyes were now growing bigger, until they started to fall down his cheeks as Ridge cried out. He wrapped his arms around himself. “It’s ok… You’re ok…” Ridge assured himself, “It’s ok, we’ll… we’ll be ok… We just need to keep it together. Just stay together,” Ridge began to plead with himself, “Stay… Just… just stay…” Ridge couldn’t hold himself together any longer as he quickly turned to light and fell apart.

“Ow…” Cole sat up as he rubbed the bruise on his cheek. He heard a sniffling noise. “Jay!” Cole turned to the blue ninja who was curled up, tears streaming down his face.

“I’m sorry,” Jay said.

“No, it’s ok,” Cole assured.

“Zane was right. You should have went with him. I only make things worse.”

“Jay, what are you talking about?”

“My fusions, Cole!” Jay yelled, “I’m talking about my fusions! Fleet can’t do anything without messing it up, Chip has TOO MANY emotional issues,”

“Wait, Chip doesn’t have any issues,” Cole said.

“That’s just what he wants you to think,” Jay responded. He gave out a sigh, “Ridge was the one fusion I felt like I was confident with, but we can’t even stay fused for too long without me freaking out about something!”

“Jay, I-”

“Everyone loves fusing with you, Cole…” Jay interrupted, “You’re just so strong… and comforting… You make us forget about our faults. You’re fusion are so amazing, and then here I am, being a failure.”

“Are you kidding me?” Cole asked, “Techtonic acts completely emotionless, and Vulcan is just a huge mess. Having a perfect fusion is impossible. Even if Ridge has problems, I don’t care. Do you really think I would have agreed to do this mission if I didn’t like fusing with you?”

Jay looked over at Cole, who was smiling at him. Jay smiled back and hugged the black ninja. “Thank you, Cole.” They hugged for a bit and then released each other. 

“Still wanna go after Morro?” Cole asked.

“Let’s do it,” Jay agreed. The two hugged again, this time fusing back into Ridge. 

He stood up with confidence. “Alright, let’s-” before he could finish his sentence, Ridge heard a sound coming from the air vent. He looked up and saw a mini blast of fire that burst the air vent open. He saw a pink ninja jump down.

“Ridge, are you ok? You were taking a while and Zane was getting worried.”

“Swift, nice to see you,” Ridge greeted, “I’m fine. But Morro went further into the factory.”

“Guess we should follow him, huh?” Swift said. Ridge nodded and the two fusions ran up to another door. 

“It’s locked,” Ridge said as he tried to open it. 

“Don’t worry, I have an idea,” Swift stated as he summoned a dart. He poked it into the keyhole and moved it around a bit until he heard a CLICK. He opened the door. “Ta-da,”

“Woah, how does that even work?” Ridge questioned.

Swift shrugged, “It just does, don’t worry about it.” The two walked into the room and saw it was filled with a bunch of scraps. Morro was at a pile, digging through it.

“C’mon, where’s the stipid piece at?” he asked, clearly frustrated.

“You looking for something, Morro?” Swift asked.

“How about a rematch?” Ridge added. 

“Nice one,” Swift commented, holding up his hand.

“Thanks,” Ridge replied, giving Swift a high five.

“How did you get in here?” Morro demanded.

“Uh, through the door,” Ridge replied, “That’s not the point. What are you looking for?”

“I have to find a stupid piece for Corria,” Morro answered, turning back to the srap pile.

“Huh, I didn’t actually expect him to respond,” Ridge said.

“Alright, enough talking,” Swift said, “We’re not letting you get that piece.” Swift jumped at the ghost, wielding two of his darts. He attempted to kick him, but Morro jumped out of the way. Ridge quickly ran up and punched Morro at the wall. Swift threw his darts at Morro. They landed in the wall, keeping him stuck there.

“You may have beaten me, but how can you handle TWO fusions?” Ridge taunted.

 Morro sighed as he phased through the darts, freeing himself. “I like to think my odds aren’t THAT bad,” Morro replied, pulling out his sword. He ran at Swift with his sword. Swift quickly grabbed a long piece of metal from the pile and blocked Morro’s sword with it.

“Darts aren’t the only weapon I know how to use,” Swift smirked as he kept blocking Morro’s sword swings with his metal.

“You’re a Kai fusion, it only makes sense you would know how to use a sword,” Morro agreed. 

Ridge watched as they sword fought with each other. “Wow, never thought I’d see someone sword fight with a piece of metal.”

“Technically, Ridge, most swords  _ are _ pieces of metal,” Swift stated.

Morro finally managed to knock the metal out of Swift’s hand. He went to hit the fusion with his sword, but Ridge threw his flail at the sword, pulling it away. Swift kicked Morro towards the wall and shot ice at him, keeping him stuck there.

Ridge and Swift both walked up to Morro. “Looks like you won’t be getting that part, huh?” Ridge taunted. 

Before they could do anything else, Swift’s communication device went off. “Nya? What is it?” he asked.

“You guys need to come quick!” Nya urged, “Hurry!”

Swift and Ridge looked at each other with worried looks. 

“This sounds really urgent,” Ridge said.

“You got lucky this time,” Swift said to Morro. He sighed and started running out of the factory with Ridge following behind. 

______________________________________________

Nya was standing in Ninjago City, the look of complete shock was on her face.

“Nya!” she looked up as she heard her name. She saw two ninja coming towards her on a path of ice. They landed in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” the pink ninja asked.

“Hold up, Swift,” the navy blue ninja interrupted, “We haven’t properly introduced ourselves yet.”

Swift rolled his eyes. “I’m Swift, this is Ridge. Are we good now?”

Ridge nodded before looking around. His face turned to a worried look. “Nya, where’s Lloyd?” he asked.

Nya looked at the two fusions, her face full of worry. “He was taken by the nindroids!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this chapter posted yesterday, but the power went out and I wasn't able to  
> Anyway, Ridge and Swift are two gay best friends who aren't gay for each other, but still gay and best friends (I didn't come up with that description, someone on tumblr did)


	12. Captured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lloyd is captured by Dr. Corria, it's up to the ninja to try and find him before Corria can use him for her plan.

The ninja regrouped at the bounty to discuss what all happened.

“Ok, so what exactly happened to Lloyd?” Kai asked.

“We were fighting the nindroids and everything was fine,” Nya explained, “But then more showed up and there were too many for us, but Lloyd insisted we’d be fine. And then, a bunch of them surrounded him and captured him in a net and took him away. I tried to stop them, but there were too many for me to take on by myself,” Nya put her hands over her face in shame, “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault…”

Kai put his hand on his sister’s shoulder. “You did you’re best. This isn’t your fault,” he assured.

“If the nindroids captured him, it is safe to assume they took him to Corria’s lab,” Zane suggested.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go get him!” Jay said.

“Not so fast, Jay,” Zane stopped him, “We need to come up with a plan. We can’t just run in recklessly. And we also need to figure out what exactly Morro was up to at that factory.”

“Morro?” Nya questioned.

“We don’t know how, but Morro was the one at the factory,” Kai explained, “He was looking for something for Corria. I think it’s safe to assume he found what he was looking for and went back to the lab.”

“But we don’t know what he was looking for,” Cole reminded.

“Well, I guess the only way to find out is by going to Corria’s lab,” Kai suggested.

“But we need a plan,” Zane insisted, but the others were already grabbing their weapons, ready to go save Lloyd.

______________________________________________

“The Green Ninja,” Corria commented, “What an interesting turn of events we have.” She had put Lloyd in one of her glass containers to make sure he didn't escape.

“Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work,” Lloyd assured, “My friends will save me and then we’ll kick your butt!”

Corria laughed at the ninja. “You amuse me.” Corria heard the door open behind her and turned around to see Morro walk it with two of the metal rings he was sent to find.

“I found your stupid-” Morro paused as he saw Lloyd trapped in the glass container, dropping the rings on the ground. The two both stared at each other, fear in their eyes.

“Good work, Morro!” Corria cheered, “I’ll take those to my workshop to do some adjustments!” She grabbed the two metal rings and walked away, leaving Morro and Lloyd alone.

“M-Morro,” Lloyd stuttered, “What are you doing here?”

“What are  _ you  _ doing here?” Morro asked.

“I got captured. But, I thought you were in the Departed Realm, how are you back?”

Morro sighed. “Corria summoned me with some dark magic. I’m stuck here as her slave, forced to do whatever she asks me to do.”

Lloyd gave him a skeptical look. “She’s a scientist, how would she know dark magic?”

“I don’t know! She had a book that she used or something,” Morro sighed again, “I know it might be hard to believe this, but I don’t want to be here anymore than you do. It might be hard to trust me after everything I’ve done, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry… for everything.”

Lloyd was taken back by Morro’s apology. He turned away, crossing his arms. “I know you helped us back during the Day of the Departed, but I still don’t know if I can fully trust you,” he explained, “I find it kinda hard to trust some people who have done terrible things in the past.”

“You mean like your father?” Morro asked.

Lloyd flinched at the mention of is father. “Y-you know about that?”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Morro apologized, “I remember him being summoned from the Departed Realm, and it’s kinda hard not to know about it after Pythor talks about it so much.”

“I-I don’t know where my father is,” Lloyd said, “And it makes me scared everyday, knowing he’s out there. Knowing he could be plotting something, knowing he could show up again and ruin everything.”

“Knowing the ninja, you guys would be able to handle it,” Morro assured.

The conversation was cut off when the alarm began to go off. Morro turned to the computer. “The ninja are here,” he said, turning to Lloyd.

Corria burst through the door. “Where are Pythor and Cryptor?” she asked.

Morro shrugged, “How am I supposed to know? I don’t keep track of them.”

Corria walked up to the computer and pulled out a microphone. “Pythor! Cryptor! The ninja are here! We can’t have them mess up my plans! Go deal with them!”

Pythor and Cryptor were sitting next to each other in a separate room. They both looked at each other before pulling out there weapons and heading for the entrance.Pythor and Cryptor exitted the lab, blocking the ninja off from entering.

“Corria is not to be disrupted,” Pythor informed, “You won’t be getting inside anytime soon.”

“Pythor!” Kai yelled, “What are you guys doing to Lloyd!?”  
“I don’t know,” Pythor admitted, “But whatever Corria is planning, as long as I get to take out you pesky ninja and take over Ninjago, I don’t care what she’s doing.”

Kai ran up to attack Pythor with his sword, but Pythor blocked it with his staff.

Cryptor ran past the two, heading straight for Zane. He pulled out his sword, ready to swing it at his brother, but Zane used his bow to block it. 

“I’ve been looking forward to this fight the second Corria rebuilt me,” Cryptor said.

“Well sorry to keep you waiting,” Zane responded. He pushed Cryptor back with his bow and pulled out an arrow to shoot. Cryptor quickly ran up again, but was sent back by Nya who launched a water ball at the nindroid. He turned to Nya, but before he could do anything, Zane had shot his arrow at Cryptor.

Kai continued to try and hit Pythor with his sword. “Don’t you see? You won’t be able to save your friend this time,” Pythor taunted.

“That’s just what you want us to believe!” Kai argued, “We won’t stop until we get Lloyd back!” While Pythor was distracted, Cole ran up and his the serpentine with his hammer, knocking his over. 

“Thanks, Cole,” Kai said.

“No problem,” Cole responded.

Pythor quickly got back up, swinging his tail to knock the two ninja over. He slithered up to them to smack them with his staff, but instead got shocked by a jolt of lightning.

“Leave them alone!” Jay yelled as he ran to protect his friends. He grabbed Cole’s hand, helping his up while Kai stood up himself. Pythor grunted before swinging his staff at the ninja.

“You can’t defeat me,” Cryptor taunted, “I’m more advanced, I’m stronger.”

“If you’re stronger, then how have I been able to defeat you all those times before?” Zane asked.

“You got lucky,” Cryptor yelled.

“That’s not luck,” Nya argued, “Zane’s just a better fighter than you.”

“SHUT UP!” Cryptor yelled. He ran at Nya, swinging his sword. Nya dodged his swings, but was unable to get a hit in on the nindroid. Zane continued to shoot his arrows at Cryptor, until he ran out and was forced to attack with his bow. He ran up behind Cryptor to hit him with his bow. Cryptor pushed Nya away and quickly turned back to hit Zane. He smacked his sword at Zane, launching him away. He slowly walked up to his brother who was laying on the ground.

“Finally, I can finally defeat you and PROVE that I am the superior nindroid!” he laughed.

“Superior nindroid?” Zane questioned, “What are you talking about?”

“I was built to be better than you in every way,” Cryptor explained, “I am you but stronger! I am you but better! But somehow, you’ve beaten me everytime we fight! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“So, this whole time, you just wanted to prove you’re better than me?” 

“Because I AM better than you!”

“No you’re not,” Nya said, standing up, “Zane is better than you in every way. You know why? Because he has a heart. Because he cares about others.”

“SHUT UP!” Cryptor yelled, “You are NOT part of this!”

While Cryptor was distracted, Zane got up and kicked Cryptor over. He let go of his sword and Zane caught it as it fell to the ground. He pointed it at Cryptor to stop him from moving. 

“Looks like I beat you again,” Zane teased.

Cryptor grumbled before turning his arm into an arm cannon and pointing it at Zane, charging a blast.

Kai turned and saw Cryptor charging his attack. He quickly threw his sword, hitting Cryptor’s arm and causing the blast to miss Zane. Zane looked over at Kai who gave him a wink in response.

“Good job saving your little nindroid friend,” Pythor interrupted, “But looks like you don’t have a weapon to protect yourself now.”

“He’s not just my friend,” Kai said angrily, creating fire in his hands, “He’s my BOYFRIEND!” He launched two fireballs at Pythor, sending him back. 

Jay turned to Cole. “How come you don’t say stuff like that about me?” he asked.

“Can we just focus on the fight?” Cole responded. 

They both ran up to Pythor, hitting him with their weapons. Pythor fell over and Cole and Jay stood over him, preventing him from escaping. 

“Alright, where’s Lloyd?” Kai demanded.

“He’s in the lab,” Pythor confessed, defeated, “In the main room.”

The ninja all ran into the lab. They ran down the main hall until they got to the main room. They kicked the doors open, but to their surprise, the room was empty. The lights were off and the computer was turned off.

“What the?” Kai asked.

“I thought Pythor said he was here,” Jay said.

“He must’ve lied,” Nya decided, “Classic Pythor.”

“Perhaps she’s hiding him in there,” Zane suggested, pointing to a side room. 

The ninja opened the door, but saw the room was empty again with the lights off. 

“Corria must’ve taken him somewhere else,” Nya figured, “He’s not here anymore.”

“Great,” Kai said angrily, “How are we supposed to find him now?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Cole assured, “For now, we should head back to the bounty.” 

The ninja all nodded before running out of the lab.

The room was silent for a while. “They’re gone,” Morro announced, appearing after being invisible.

“Perfect,” Corria appeared, pressing a button on a watch she was wearing under her sleeve. Along with Corria, Lloyd also appeared, tied up next to Corria. His mouth was covered so he couldn’t reveal where they were. She untied his mouth.

“What was that!?” Lloyd demanded as soon as he could speak again.

“Oh, just a cloaking device I’ve been developing,” Corria explained, “It works extremely well as you can see,” She giggled a bit before turning her attention back to the lab. She grabbed Lloyd by the wrist, dragging him into the lab. “You come too, Morro.”

Morro obeyed, following the scientist into the main lab. Corria threw Lloyd back into the glass container and grabbed one of the metal rings. She pushed a button on the side which opened it up. She put it around one of Lloyd’s wrists and closed it around it, making a CLICK noise as his closed back. She closed the container. Lloyd looked at the ring, confused by what it was. Morro looked at Lloyd and then back at Corria. Corria grabbed Morro’s arm. He tried to pull away but was unable to. Corria pulled out the other ring and put it on Morro’s wrist.

“What are you doing?” Morro asked.

Corria stared at the ghost with a blank expression. She soon began laughing, louder and louder, causing Morro and Lloyd to both look at her with fear in their eyes.

“I’m testing out my latest invention,” she explained, “Now, why don’t you go over and stand with Lloyd.”

“I-”  
“That was an ORDER, Morro,” Corria reminded.

Morro’s body began to tremble a bit before he reluctantly walked over and stood next to the glass container. 

“No no, I need you to go inside the container,” Corria clarified.

Morro and Lloyd looked at each other nervously before Morro phased through the glass, standing next to Lloyd.

“What’s going on?” Lloyd asked.

“I don’t know…” Morro replied, quietly.

Corria turned to her computer and opened a drawer in the desk. She pulled out a mysterious device and turned to the two, an insane smile on her face. 

“Finally,” she said quietly, “I’ve waited for this moment for so long… and now, it’s finally here!” She pushed a button on her device. The rings around Lloyd and Morro’s wrists began to glow. They looked down at the rings in confusing until they felt an intense pain surge through their bodies. Both Morro and Lloyd could barely move from the pain. They slowly began to turn into light until the entire container was filled with a bright green light. Corria stared at the light with complete glee.

“Dr. Corria, the ninja-” Pythor said, slithering into the room with Cryptor behind him. He paused, looking at the glass container.

The light began to fade, leaving behind a singular figure, alone on the ground, breathing heavily as the pain faded away. Corria turned to her two helpers.

“Ah, Pythor, Cryptor,” she greeted, “You’re just in time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're actually getting pretty close to the end... I never really thought I'd actually write this much of this fic tbh  
> But anyway, Corria is really crazy, and we'll be able to see that in full force next chapter, but for now, you guys will just have to wait and see what happens next   
> (The next chapter might be really long, but I don't know yet...)


	13. Vice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corria reveals what her true intentions are, and the ninja are forced to fight a mysterious new foe.

“Wh-what did you do to us!?” the figure demanded, staring down at his hands.

Corria stared at her creation, Pythor and Cryptor both watching with fear.

“What do you mean, ‘us’?” Corria questioned, “You’re my newest creation, you’re a fusion.”

“No,” the fusion said quietly, “No! What did you do!? We-I…”

Corria laughed, “I guess I better give you a name,”

“A name!?” the fusion asked, “Am I just a little science project to you?”

“In a way, yes!” Corria smiled, “Now, how about Vice? That sounds like a nice name.”

“Dr. Corria, what is this?” Pythor asked.

Corria turned to the serpentine, a large smile on her face. Pythor backed up slightly. “This was my plan, Pythor,” Corria explained, “After studying the rings and modifying the technology inside, I’ve invented a way to create any fusion I want! And they have no choice but to do what I say,” She turned back to Vice who looked at her with concern on his face.

“What do you mean, ‘do whatever you say’?” Cryptor questioned.

“It’s quite simple,” Corria said, “As long as those rings are on the fusion, I have full control over them.” She held up her device to show the others. “And if they disobey me,” She pushed a button on the device.

Vice looked at his rings and they started to glow. A massive jolt of electricity surged through his body, causing him to kneel on the ground as he screamed in pain. Pythor and Cryptor both looked over in horror.

Corria looked back at the two of them. “Think of how much safer Ninjago will be with an army of fusions to protect them.”

“An army of fusions?” Cryptor questioned, “How are you going to make an army if only elemental masters can fuse?”

Corria giggled. “Silly Cryptor, after I finish the touch ups on my invention  _ anyone  _ is fair game.” She started laughing maniacally, causing both Pythor and Cryptor to back up in fear.

“You’re insane!” Pythor yelled.

“Oh, c’mon, Pythor,” Corria put her hand on his shoulder, “Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to be part nindroid,” she asked, turning her head towards Cryptor.

Pythor smacked Corria’s hand away. “You’re mad! I thought you told me you would help me take over Ninjago! Not be your test subject!”

“I never promised that,” Corria said, “I just said I would help you defeat the ninja. And think of how powerful a serpentine nindroid fusion could be!”

“No way! I am NOT going to be part of your experiments!” Pythor insisted.

“What about you, Cryptor?” Corria asked.

“I’m with Pythor, you’re fucking crazy if you think I’m going to take part in this!” Cryptor refused.

Corria laughed again. “You two think you have a choice?” She pushed a button on her computer, causing the entire lab to lock down. “Don’t worry, you two will have some time to accept all of this. I still need to finish working on the other fusion rings. Hopefully the energy we managed to get from the purple one will be enough. But if not, I’m sure Vice will have some to spare.” She walked over to the glass container and opened it. “Oh, and Vice, do me a favor and make sure the ninja don’t come back here.”

______________________________________________

“Where else could she have taken him?” Kai questioned, “Her lab is the only place we’ve ever seen her!”

Zane was typing something into the computer. “I’ve been looking all over Ninjago and can’t find anywhere else she could be hiding.”

“We’ll find him,” Cole assured, “Lloyd is strong. He can survive until we manage to find him.”

“Lloyd has had to go through so much, though,” Kai argued, “He deserves a break from all of this! But we never get a break from anything around here.”

The computer began to make a beeping noise. 

“What is it?” Jay asked.

“Trouble in Ninjago City,” Zane informed.

“Let me guess,” Kai rolled his eyes, “More nindroids?”

“Actually, no,” Zane answered, “I can’t tell from the signal, but it definitely isn’t a nindroid.”

“And it’s only one person?” Cole asked.

“That’s what it looks like,” Zane nodded, “We’d better go check it out.” The ninja started to run to the area the signal was, but Nya didn’t follow.

“Nya?” Kai asked, “You coming?”

“I… I can’t,” Nya said, “Not after I failed Lloyd like that…”

“Nya, that wasn’t your fault,” Kai assured her.

“But it was! If I were stronger, Lloyd would still be here and we wouldn’t have to be looking for him,” Nya argued.

“You say that like he’s dead,” Jay said, causing Cole to punch him on the arm to get him to shut up.

“Look, if it’s only one person, you guys don’t need me,” Nya said, “I’ll stay here in case anything else happens.”

“Kai, we have to go,” Zane insisted.

Kai let out a sigh. “Ok, we’ll be back, sis.” He turned and joined the others, leaving Nya alone on the bounty.

The ninja arrived in the city where things were surprisingly quiet. They looked around, but didn’t see anyone. 

“Zane, I thought you said there was someone here!” Jay said.

“That’s what the computer said,” Zane replied, “It said it was in this location.”

Kai looked around and saw someone walking up to them. “Guys! Over there!” He pointed. As they got closer, the ninja realized it was a lone nindroid.

“Zane, I thought you said it wasn’t a nindroid,” Jay said.

“It didn’t look like a nindroid signal,” Zane responded. Before the ninja could say anything else, the nindroid suddenly began laughing. The ninja all jumped back, not used to these nindroids ever making noise.

“Did you really think I would miss this?” the nindroid spoke.

“Wait a minute, that’s Corria’s voice!” Kai pointed out.

“Yep!” Corria’s voice continued to speak through the nindroid, “I can’t leave my lab right now, but I wanted to see this fight!”

The ninja looked at her in confusion. “You want to see us fight a single nindroid?” Cole questioned.

Corria began laughing again. “No, that would be stupid. I want to see you fight him!” The nindroid gestured for the ninja to look. They saw a cloud of green smoke covering the area in front of them. They saw the outline of someone walking towards them, but they couldn’t make out who it was. The figure left the smoke and entered the clearing where the ninja could finally see him. They all stared at him in horror.

“L-Lloyd!?” Kai gasped, “What did she do to you!?” 

“There is no more Lloyd,” the figure spoke, “Only Vice.”

“Vice?” Jay questioned, “Who are you?”

“He’s my latest experiment,” Corria explained, “With Lloyd’s energy and Morro’s wind, Vice is a very dangerous fusion to fight.”

“Y-you FUSED them together!?” Zane questioned.

“Yep!” Corria answered, “And he’ll do whatever I tell him to!” The nindroid turned to Vice. “Vice, attack them.”

Vice paused for a moment before sighing. He generated a mix of wind and energy in his hands as he started down the ninja.

“Lloyd! Morro! Don’t do this!” Kai pleaded, “We don’t have to fight!”

“Don’t say those names!” Vice yelled, “Lloyd and Morro are gone!” He launched his attack at the ninja, causing them to jump out of the way. An explosion of green smoke erupted where the blast landed. Vice continued shooting blasts of energy at the ninja, but they continued to dodge each blast. 

“How are we going to fight him?” Jay asked, “He’s a fusion! He’s too strong!”

“He’s not the only one who can fuse,” Kai retorted. He grabbed Zane’s hand. The nindroid nodded at the red ninja. Kai spun Zane around, dipping him afterwards, the two of them turning to light and fusing into Swift.

“Good idea!” Cole said. He ran over and grabbed Jay, picking him up and holding him close. The two fused, forming Ridge. 

The two fusions ran at Vice, ready to attack with their weapons. Vice quickly summoned two swords and used them to block the fusions. He swung both swords, sending them back.

“Just give up!” Vice yelled, “You’re going to get hurt.”

“We won’t give up until we defeat you,” Swift insisted. He ran up and jumped in the air, throwing multiple darts at the ground around Vice, surrounding him in ice. Before the ice could trap him, Vice jumped away. 

“You’re not getting away!” Ridge yelled. He stomped his foot on the ground, causing it to shake. Multiple rocks shock out of the ground surrounding Vice and trapping him. 

Ridge and Swift ran at Vice, charging their attacks. Vice surrounded his entire body with green energy. As the two got closer to him, Vice released the energy, destroying the rocks around him and sending the two fusions flying towards the wall behind them. The impact was so strong that it caused both fusions to unfuse, leaving the ninja laying on the ground.

Corria laughed from the side. “Good work, Vice,” she complimented, “You’re much stronger than I initially thought.”

“Ugh, Corria is being really annoying!” Jay complained.

“Let’s just take her out then,” Kai suggested as he stood up. He held out his hand for Jay to grab. Jay grabbed Kai’s hand and was pulled up, the two of them fusing together. 

“I think I see where they’re going,” Zane said, turning to Cole. Cole smiled, grabbing the nindroid’s hand and fusing.

“Alright, I’ll take on Corria,” Fleet said, “You can,” he turned to Techtonic and paused. “You know, I’m just now realizing that I never actually introduced myself last time. The name’s Fleet.”

“Focus, Fleet,” Techtonic reminded, turning him around. Vice launched a blast towards the purple fusion.

“WHAHH!” Fleet yelled. He tried to hide his face, bracing for impact, but the blast was stopped by Techtonic who created a wall of earth to block the blast.

“Ha ha, thanks,” Fleet laughed awkwardly.

“No problem,” Techtonic responded, his voice still completely monotone. He turned to Vice and started running at the fusion, Fleet watching him in awe.

“He’s so beautiful,” Fleet said quietly, “Focus!” He slapped his face to snap him out of it. “I have an annoying scientist to deal with!” He summoned his kusarigama and ran at the nindroid. He jumped at it, ready to attack. The nindroid jumped back, avoiding the attack.

“Well, if it isn’t the purple fusion!” Corria greeted, “It’ll be harder than you think to get rid of me! This nindroid is still built for combat, after all!”

“If you’ve forgotten, I’ve taken on plenty of your nindroids! Just one is no problem for me!” Fleet taunted.

“Well, if that’s the case, let me take some time to thank you before you destroy this nindroid,” Corria replied.

“What?” Fleet questioned, pausing his attack, “Thank me for what?”

“If it wasn’t for the energy I got from you, I never would have been able to create my fusion technology,” Corria explained, “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to fuse Lloyd and Morro into Vice! This whole fight is because of you, Fleet.”

“Because of… me?” Fleet looked over to Techtonic and Vice fighting. He looked at Vice. He looked determined, but upset at the same time. Fleet stared at him, his face full of guilt as he realized what Corria meant.

“I’m sure Vice will be very happy,” Corria continued, “His existence is all because of you!”

“No…” Fleet said softly, “Lloyd… I…”

Techtonic pushed Vice back and turned to look at Fleet. He saw the nindroid next to her begin to charge a shot. Vice began charging a shot in his hand, but Techtonic quickly shot and arrow near his foot, trapping him in earth. 

Fleet looked down at his hands, his body shaking. He broke out of his trance when Techtonic jumped in, kicking the nindroid to the ground. He shot an arrow in it, making sure it was destroyed.

“Fleet, are you ok?” Techtonic asked.

“T-Techtonic,” Fleet stuttered, “I-I’m fine.”

“What was Corria talking about?” Techtonic asked.

Fleet paused for a moment. He looked up at Techtonic. “It’s my fault that Lloyd and Morro are fused. Corria stole some energy from me and used it to fuse them together…”

“That’s not your fault,” Techtonic assured, “You had no control over that.”

Fleet looked at Techtonic and smiled. “Thanks Tech- LOOK OUT!” A blast of energy came flying at the two. Fleet shot a blast of fire and lightning at the blast, destroying it. He took a deep breath after using so much energy to stop the blast.

“Thanks, Fleet,” Techtonic said.

“No… problem,” Fleet replied, out of breath.

The two fusions held their weapons and ran for Vice. He began to prepare an attack in retaliation as the two got closer. Techtonic stopped at shot an arrow with his crossbow while Fleet continued running. Vice shot the arrow and sent a smaller blast towards Fleet, but he jumped over it. He swung his kusarigama at Vice. It wrapped around him, keeping him trapped. He gave Vice a small push, knocking him over. 

“Nice work, Fleet,” Techtonic complemented, walking up to the two of them.

“Yeah, I know,” Fleet replied, putting his hands on his hips confidently. While they were both distracted, Vice charged another blast, destroying the kusarigama. Fleet and Techtonic were caught off guard and sent flying at the wall, the blast strong enough to split them apart. The four ninja all sat on the ground, beat up. 

“Guys, we need to hide!” Jay insisted, watching at Vice slowly got back up. The ninja all ran and hid behind a large rock. 

“Well, that’s it,” Kai said, “We used up our fusions and we still couldn’t beat him!”

“Not all of them,” Jay pointed out.

“Jay, no,” Cole interrupted, “I know what your thinking, and no. Forming Vulcan right now would be a terrible idea!”

“And there’s no way Chip could take on Vice by himself!” Kai added.

“Actually, Jay might be onto something,” Zane stated, “Considering Vulcan’s immense strength and his lack of empathy for those he’s fighting, he might actually be a wise choice.”

“Zane, are you crazy!” Kai yelled, “What is he teams up with Vice and then take over all of Ninjago!”

“Don’t you think that’s a little overboard?” Zane questioned, “Vulcan’s a jerk, not an evil overlord.”

“I’m with Kai on this one,” Cole responded, “We were barely able to control ourselves as Vulcan last time. It’ll be too dangerous.”

“Lloyd is in danger!” Jay argued, “This might be the only way to save him!”

“We’ll find another way,” Cole assured.

“Well, I’m not giving up.” Jay turned to Zane, the both of them nodding. They charged their powers together and fused into Chip.

Chip stood up and looked at Cole and Kai. “You guys may have given up, but I’m not going to.” He jumped over the rock and back into battle.

“Chip, no!” Cole and Kai both yelled.

“Vice! Give us back Lloyd!” Chip demanded.

“I can’t!” Vice yelled, “Just give it up already!”

“No! I’m not leaving my friend behind!” Chip summoned his slingshot and launched an ice ball at Vice. Vice jumped out of the way and shot balls of energy at Chip. Chip jumped out of the way of each blast. Vice kept launching everything he had, but Chip kept dodging. He was unable to get a hit in, as he there was too much to dodge. 

“You guys wanna jump in at any time?” Chip asked.

“Uhh,” Kai replied awkwardly, “Nah, you’ve got this, Chip!”

Eventually, Vice got annoyed and summoned his swords. He ran at Chip and swung one of his swords. Chip ducked under it, but Vice quickly hit him with his other sword. 

“Anytime you guys wanna help out would be great!” Chip yelled. Chip shot a blast of ice, but Vice blocked it with a sword. 

“You’re doing great!” Cole cheered awkwardly.

Vice surrounded his arms with wind, and launched a giant blast at Chip, sending him flying straight up into the air.

“CHIP!” Cole and Kai both screamed from behind the rock.

“WHAAH!” Chip screamed as he began falling down to the ground. “This is gonna hurt this is gonna hurt this is gonna hurt,” he started saying over and over again, bracing for the impact. Suddenly, he felt someone grab him while he was falling, holding him close to their body. They landed on the ground, dust flying into the air. Chip slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see who caught him. “Vulcan!?” he yelled in disbelief.

Vulcan looked down at Chip, a stern look on his face. He set Chip down gently. “Stay out of the way. You could get hurt.” he ordered.

Chip continued to stare at the dark red ninja in disbelief. Vulcan summoned his axe and stared at Vice.

“Give back Lloyd, or else,” Vulcan threatened.

“What part of I can’t don’t you understand!” Vice yelled. “I can’t unfuse! Corria has me stuck as a fusion!”

“I guess I’ll just have to make you unfuse then!” Vulcan retaliated. He ran at Vice, ready to swing his axe. Vice summoned his swords again and blocked Vulcan’s attack.

Chip sat back, watching the two fusions fight. “He can’t unfuse,” Chip began thinking, “Something is making him stay fused, something unnatural. If he wanted to unfuse, he would’ve done it by now,” He looked at Vice and noticed the rings around his wrists. Chip gasped, “It’s those rings! They must be what’s keeping him from fusing!”

“Please just stop!” Vice pleaded, “You can’t beat me!”

“That sounds like a challenge!” Vulcan yelled. He got ready to attack Vice with is axe again, but was blocked by a wall of ice. Vulcan turned and saw Chip standing behind him. “I thought I told you to stay out of the way!” 

“Vulcan, I think I know how to stop Vice,” Chip stated.

“We don’t have all day, spit it out!”

“Ok, he keeps saying how he  _ can’t  _ unfuse, so we need to find a way to make him unfuse,” Chip explained.

“What do you think I’ve been doing?” Vulcan asked, “I just need to beat him up more until he unfuses!”

“No, there’s something keeping him fused,” Chip clarified, “I think it’s the rings on his wrists. If we can break those, he’ll be able to unfuse.”

“Break the rings, got it,” Vulcan said, “Alright, back to fighting.” He blasted the ice wall with fire.

Chip summoned his slingshot again and started to aim it for Vice.

“Stay out of it,” Vulcan ordered, “You’ll only get in the way.”

“You’re not invincible, Vulcan,” Chip said, “You’re going to need help.”

“I don’t need your help!” Vulcan insisted. While he was distracted, Vice blasted him, sending him flying at the wall. Chip looked at Vulcan laying on the ground and let out a little chuckle.

“You kinda deserved that,” Chip teased.

“SHUT UP!” Vulcan yelled, getting back up.

Chip turned his attention back to Vice and shot him with an ice ball. It hit him on the arm and sent a small shock through his body. Vice tried to swing his sword at Chip, but was instead hit by Vulcan’s axe. Vice was knocked onto the ground where Chip created ice around him so he couldn’t move.

“Alright, let’s get those rings off,” Vulcan said, getting his axe ready.

“Wait, be careful!” Chip warned, but Vulcan had already smacked his axe on one of the rings attempting to break it. But to both of their surprises, the axe didn’t do any damage to the rings.

“What the?” Vulcan questioned.

“That’s impossible,” Chip said, “How did that do nothing?”

Vice sighed. “I’m sorry, but you guys can’t do anything,” he said, “Corria ordered me to fight you, so there’s nothing else I can do.” Before Chip or Vulcan could say anything, Vice charged another large blast, sending the fusions at the wall one again, splitting them apart.

______________________________________________

Corria giggled as she watched the computer screen. “They think they can just destroy the rings? The metal is far too strong for that!”

“I thought they destroyed the nindroid. How are you still watching the fight?” Cryptor questioned.

“They just destroyed the mobility and voice of the nindroid. I can still see everything,” Corria explained, “I should really get back to work, but this fight is just so interesting to watch!”

Cryptor stared at the screen. He saw the ninja laying on the ground. His eyes quickly focussed on his brother lying weak on the ground. He started to think about what Zane said.  _ So, this whole time, you just wanted to prove you’re better than me?  _ For some reason, he kept thinking about those words. 

Pythor’s voice interrupted Cryptor’s thoughts. “It should be ME out there defeating the ninja!”

“Look at it this way, Pythor,” Corria said, “You helped me get to this point, so in a way, you ARE beating up the ninja!”

Cryptor looked back at Corria.  _ My entire life, I’ve only know evil. I was built to destroy the ninja. That is my purpose, so that’s what I’m doing.  _ Cryptor began glaring at Corria.  _ My entire life, I’ve taken orders. I never got to decide who I was.  _

“I think he’s almost got them!” Corria cheered, “Who knew seeing the ninja in pain was so- WHAHH!” Corria was interrupted when she was suddenly pushed to the ground. She looked up and saw Cryptor glaring down at her. “Cryptor! What are you doing!? How dare you betray me!” Cryptor grabbed the device from the desk. “Cryptor, put that down,” Corria ordered. She attempted to get back up, but Pythor stood next to her, keeping her down with his staff. She looked at Pythor and then back at Cryptor, anger in her eyes. “Cryptor! I rebuilt you! You have to do what I say!”

“You may have rebuilt me, but that doesn’t mean I have to listen to you,” Cryptor replied. He crushed the device in his hand.

“NO!” Corria yelled. Sparks flew off the device, and small pieces of metal fell to the ground. 

Cryptor threw it to the ground and turned to Pythor. “Make sure to destroy the energy supply.”

Pythor nodded and slithered away. Corria attempted to stop him, but Cryptor made sure she wouldn’t leave, pointing his sword at her. He looked up at the screen, watching the ninja once more.

______________________________________________

The ninja all lay on the ground defeated, out of fusions to fight with. Vice slowly walked up to them, his hands charged with wind and energy. He pointed his hand at the ninja, ready to finish them. But suddenly, the green glow on his rings faded. The rings opened, falling off of Vice’s wrists. The ninja looked up in surprise. Vice rubbed his wrists, staring at them in complete shock. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but fell to the ground instead. The ninja stood up and looked at Vice as he began to glow. He turned to light, splitting back into Lloyd and Morro who were both passed out, exhausted from their fusion.

“Did we do it?” Jay asked.

“I-I guess,” Kai responded. He clicked his communication device. “Hey, Nya,” he said,  “Can you get the bounty over here? We need help with something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW this chapter was long. I had this scene planned out for a very long time. I thought it would be cool to have a big fight involving all of the fusions. I originally wanted to have more time to develop each fusion, but it didn't really fit well in the whole timeline of all of this. Also, I know the part with Ridge and Swift was short, but they had their time to shine fighting Morro. I thought it would only be fair if they had a shorter time while the others got to stick around a little longer  
> (Also I will forever be terrible at fight scenes and I apologize)


	14. All is Forgiven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Corria finally defeated, the ninja take some time to reflect on what happened.

The ninja took Lloyd and Morro back to the monastery. They were resting for a full day, completely drained from being forced to fuse. The ninja went back to Corria’s lab, but the entire place was empty. Corria, along with Pythor and Cryptor were missing. Some lone nindroids were found, but it was clear others had escaped. Almost everything in the lab was destroyed before the ninja even got there. They assumed they all escaped, but figured since all of Corria’s work had been destroyed, that she wouldn’t be causing anymore trouble anytime soon.

The ninja were back at the monastery. Kai went to go check on Lloyd and Morro and saw that Morro was waking up.

“Kai? Where am I?” Morro asked.

“You’re at the monastery,” Kai explained, “You and Lloyd were completely passed out after unfusing, so we brought you two here to rest.”

“Why would you bring me here?” Morro asked, “After I betrayed you guys.”

“Well, we figured you were being controlled,” Kai answered, “We found a spell book at Corria’s lab and realized she must have forced you to work for her.”

Morro looked over at Lloyd who was still sleeping. “I can’t help but feel like this is all my fault…” he admitted.

“None of this was your fault,” Kai assured, “You didn’t want to do any of this, did you?”

Morro shook his head. “I thought the Day of the Departed was the last time I’d be back here, but Corria summoned me and I had no choice but to do what she said.”

“Well, it looks like the curse must’ve worn off,” Kai said, “And if it didn’t, we’ll find a way to free you.”

Morro paused for a moment. “You really aren’t mad at me?” he asked.

Before Kai could answer, Lloyd started moving. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, waking up. 

“Ugh, my head hurts,” He stated, yawning. He looked over at Kai. “How long was I out?”

“Only a day,” Kai replied.

“What!? A full day!?” Lloyd yelled. He started looking around the room and saw Morro. He froze for a moment after seeing the ghost.

“I-I’m glad you’re awake,” Morro commented awkwardly.

“You ok, Morro?” Lloyd asked.

“That’s not important,” Morro ignored the question, “Are  _ you  _ ok?”

Kai looked at the two of them, somewhat surprised by how calm they were being.

Lloyd sighed. “Look, Morro, I know I said some things. I know I said I didn’t trust you, but I think you’ve proven that you’re not a bad person.”

“Even after all of this? Even after… Vice?” Morro questioned.

“Morro, neither of us wanted to fuse,” Lloyd assured, “What happened with Vice wasn’t your fault. It was Corria’s. And she’s not here anymore. Right?” Lloyd turned to Kai.

“Uhh, about that,” Kai responded, “We didn’t find her at her lab. We don’t know what happened to her.”

“So, she’s still out there?” Lloyd asked, concern in his voice.

“We don’t think she’s planning anything,” Kai explained, “Everything in the lab was destroyed.”

The door opened, Zane walking in. He noticed Lloyd and Morro.

“You two are finally awake, I see,” Zane commented, “Is everything alright?”

“As alright as they can be,” Morro responded.

“I’m not sure if this is the best time, but,” Zane said, “Master Wu has returned.”

“Really?” Lloyd asked.

Morro looked a little nervous at the mention of his old master. 

“Hey, it’ll be ok,” Kai assured, putting his hand on his shoulder, “You can stay in here if you want.”

Kai and Zane left the room with Lloyd following behind. Morro decided to stay there for now. They walked over to join the others as they greeted Master Wu.

“It was so crazy!” Jay was in the middle of rambling to Master Wu, “But we took care of all of it. No more crazy science lady.”

“Well, we don’t know where she actually went,” Cole corrected, “But for the most part, we took care of everything.”

“I see you handled it then,” Master Wu said, “And you mentioned that Lloyd and Nya know about fusion?”

“Sorry, Master,” Kai apologized, “We tried to keep it a secret, but we had to tell them eventually.”

“It is ok, Kai,” Wu assured, “It was wrong of me to request you keep something like that a secret.”

“Yeah, uh, speaking of fusion,” Jay continued.

“I assume you also formed more fusions?” Wu interrupted.

“Uhh, yeah…” Jay admitted.

“Lloyd and I haven’t fused at all,” Nya added.

Wu nodded. “Ok, so how many fusions have you four formed?” he asked, looking at the others.

The four all looked at each other and then back at Wu. “All of them,” Jay admitted.

Wu looked at them in slight shock. 

“Don’t worry, they were all stable,” Kai said, “For the most part at least.”

“Very well,” Wu continued, “If that is true, then I don’t see why I should prevent you all from fusing.”

“Wait, really?” Cole questioned.

Wu nodded. “It is important for you to discover who each of your fusions are as a person. You may see them as just two components put together, but each fusion is their own person. They have their own interests, their own thoughts, some thoughts that may be entirely different from their components,” he explained, “So, it would be wise to take some time to rest, but also take time to discover who your fusions are.”

“Wait, so let me get this straight,” Cole said, “You want us to fuse, and just hang out as fusions?”

“In a way, yes,” Wu confirmed, “If that’s what it takes to discover yourself, then that’s what you should do.”

The ninja looked at each other and then back at their master. They paused for a moment until they heard a door open. They turned and saw Morro standing in the doorway.

“Hello, Master,” Morro greeted.

“Morro,” Wu said in surprise, “I… did not expect to see you here.”

“Neither did anyone else,” Morro said, walking to join the others, “I figured that I should at least greet you before leaving.”

“Leaving?” Kai questioned, “Morro, you don’t have to leave. You can stay at the monastery if you want.”

“Kai’s right, Morro,” Wu agreed, “You are welcomed here.”

Morro looked away, trying to avoid eye contact. “I just… It feels like it’s been far too long since I called this place my home. I’m not sure I  _ can  _ call it home. I feel like I just need some time to explore, find out who I really am.”

“If that is what you feel you need to do,” Wu stated.

Morro nodded.

“Morro, are you sure?” Lloyd asked.

“I’m sure,” Morro confirmed, “Perhaps we will meet again, but for now, I think I just want to explore this world.”

Morro started walking away, heading for the main gate. He turned back and looked at the ninja. They all waved goodbye to him. Morro gave a single wave, smiling, before turning back and walking through the gate.

“Wow, didn’t even open the door,” Jay commented. 

“Well, I think we can all agree that we’ve had a long couple of days,” Kai said, “I say we sit back and take a break.”

“I call the T.V!” Jay claimed before quickly running inside.

“No way, you are NOT hogging the T.V. for video games all night AGAIN!” Cole yelled, running after him.

“I’d better start preparing dinner,” Zane stated.

“Yeah, I think we’re all hungry after all of this,” Kai agreed. The rest of the ninja all walked inside. Wu stayed outside for a little bit, looking up at the sky.

“I may not have found your whereabouts, brother,” he spoke to himself, “But if you do ever come back, I’m sure the ninja will be prepared.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a really short chapter, but at the same time, last chapter was really long so I feel like this one doesn't need to be really long. All it really does is wrap things up.  
> So yeah, that's the end of this fic. But it is not the end of this au. I have so many more stories I want to tell with these fusions. And with that comment from Wu telling the ninja to just hang out as their fusions, all of those dumb comics on my Tumblr are now canon! Ridge and Swift fighting over the pudding cup? Canon. Techtonic stealing that motorcycle and trying to get Fleet to escape with him? Canon. Chip summoning a gun and threatening Vulcan with it? Ok, that one actually isn't canon, but you get the point.  
> I also want to say thank you to everyone who has supported this au. All the people on Tumblr and everyone on here who expressed their enjoyment for this fic really made me want to actually finish it because I usually don't actually finish things like this. I do have plans for future fusion au fics, but I still need to develop the stories for those to make sure they turn out well-written. But I feel like I've rambled for enough now.  
> Also, if you read this whole thing, you deserve a cookie because cookies are good


End file.
